Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-07-04
lQ(mtcstet 9aiID Spp.
Nc NIne O,clock nru.


1t Is beautiful custom which prevails in
many towns and villages in New England
this ringing of the church bells at the GOOD
wholesome hour of nine O'Clock in the even.
ing. 1t is an observance, too, sanctioned bv
time-honored usage-handed down to us by
our puritan tathers,-redolent of antiquity.
and OF those good old days when people went
to rest betimes, slept sOundly and sweetly up
on hard BEDS and arose with the sun, or the
larks, if you please.
There Is to us something inexpressibly pleas
ant in this ringing of the bells at nine o'clock
and we never pass a night in a strange village,
but we feel more at home in it--mOre TRANQUIL
and htted for repose, if we chance to hear at
the usual time some faithful sentiment in
nelghborng steeplG, sending forth its evening
chime. There is more than we think in the
power OF early associations. We never forget
the mellow tones of the church bell which
graced the befry of the village church in our
native hamlet. Its cadences will ever and anon
sound IN our ears all our lives long, though
many dreary miles OF land or sea make a gulf
between us and our early home.
Who has not some particular bell in his
memory, which to his boyish eyes seemed the
largest bell upon earth What an interest it
had i'll his eyes How he watched with eager
ness tor its ringing, and with what feeling
Of curiosity, mingled with awe, he mounted
Tor the first time, the rickety staircase, wound
his way up through the UNFINISHED garrett
and stood face to face with the object of his adj.
miratlon or looked down from the dizzy
hight upon mother earth far below, and the
blue hills in the distance, standing up like
armed sentinels against the sky. What a va
riety OF cadenCes the old bell possessed On
gala-days it rang merry peal, and the child's
heart leaped for joy. On the Sabbath its tones
were more solemn and majestic, according well
with the solemnity OF the day and seeming to
say TO all within the sound of its voice, "this
is none other than the house ofprayer, the very
gate OF heaven )" but when it tolled the kne
of a departed soul, the tones were sad and
mourntul, dying away upon the air with Il
tremulous sound, like mourners sob.
We have read that the travellers in foreign
lands with the broad ocean rolling between
them and home, have sometimes awakened at
night, and seemed to hear the church bells
ringing in their homes beyond the sea- and so
real did it seem to them that it was difficult
to dispel the illusion, if such it be. MAY it
not be possible that in certain peculiar states
of the mind,-that wonderful creation of a di-
vine hand,-the faculties become so acute so
intensified, the delicate nerves of sensation so
enhanced in power, that time and space are
annihilated, and we are borne on the wings of
the wind as it were, YER near our home and
heroine of that most delightful novel-Jane
Eyre-seemed to hear the voice of Rochester
calling to her in the darkness. Who has not
in his own experience known instances similar
to this, Of those who heard voices in the night
watches, and gained strength and courage
thereby
"Perchcd Gods right hand in that darkness
And were lifted up and strengthened.'
One need not go to the city for sweet.toned,
musical bells. In many OF the rural villages
of the north country, we may hear as rich, full
tones,-as harmonious cadences as ever fell
upon the listening air of evening from cathe-
dral dome or lofty church-spre. 1t is after all,
the associations, the memories awakened, that
render the tones Of even a diminutive bell
more ma estic and soumoYing than organ mu-
sic to our ears.
We recollect one bell in an obscure country
village whose mellow tones will live forever in
our heart. In the clear evenings Of mid sum
mer, as the shadows deepened along the land
scape and the stars peeped out one by one Sin
the infinite meadows of heaven" its clear,
silvery tones might be heard eehoing among
the hills, proclaiming the hour Of nine O'Clock,
and saying not inaudibly, to all the dweers
round about, "Ihe night cometh; sleep on
now and take your rest, tor all is Welt" 1t is
impossible to describe the tranquilizing infu-
ence its tones eXerted-the happy recollections
it awakened in the hearts of those who night
ly listened to its welcome music. At such
time, under the clear sky Of midsummer
night,
''rhe friendships old and the early loves
Come back with Sabbath sound as of doves
In quiet neighbOrhoods.n
Let US cherish with feeling akin to vener-
alton anything that tends to occasionally sep
arate us from the busy toll and strife OF es
battle-sOOthe and calm our troubled spirits,
and fit US for repose Long may it be before
the time,hallowed customs die out in New
England which sets the church bells ringing
at the good hour of nine o'clock, Tor with it
would vanish one OF the most valued asSocia-
lions of childhood.
I'VE may build more splendid Indications,
Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculptures,
but cannot
Buy with gold the old associations