The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1871-05-12
The (uricic .RfU.

The Observer, few weeks since, had among
it's Notes and Queries an allusion to the Curfew
Bell. The following information in regard to
the subject, may be interesting to our readers.
Many have heard of the "curfew bell, f" but
not all know its origin. Its history in England
runs back to the time OF William the Conquer
or, who ordered bell to be rung about sun
down In summer, and at eight o'clock in the
evening in winter at which time fire and lights
we're to be put out, and the people to remain
within doors, and penalties were imposed upon
those who neglected or refused to comply with
the law. This was called the ''curfew, a word
derived from the French cOuurefeu cover fire,
and so the appropriateness of the name is
readily seen. The old king has been generally
charged with institutlng this custom in order
to impress upon his subjects sense of their
abject condition but, as the ''curfew bell'' was
rung in France long before William time, as
a safeguard against fires, it is not improbable
that he brought the custom with him into
England from the continent, and that be has
been slandered as to his motives. At any rate,
he has sins enough to answer for without this.
In the sixteenth century 'bell-men" were
added TO the night-watch in London. They
went through the streets ringing their bells.
and crying, Take care of fire and candle be
kind to the poor, and pray for the dead" 1t
was tho bellman's duty also, to bless the Sleep
ers as he passed their doors. In al Pen
seroso," Milton refers to this custom:
1.-The bell-man's drowsy charm
To bless the doors from nightly harm"
Poets have often referred to the curfew, or
cover-fre, bell. Gray begins his beautiful
"Elegy" with
The curfew tolls the knell Of parting day."
Longfellow, too, has pretty little poem
telling the story of this bell with charming
simplicity:
'Solemnly, mournfully, dealing its dole,
The curfew bell is beginning to toll.
Cover the embers, put out the hght
Toll comes with the morning, and rest with
the night.
Dark grow the windows, and quenched is the
fire;
Sound fades into silence all footsteps retire.
No voice in the chambers, no sound in the hall;
Sleep and oblivion reign over all"
King William died, and the original obliga-
tions Of the curfew were at last removed about
the time Of Henry 1, in 100; but the custom
OF ringing an evening bell is still kept up in
England, with variations as to the hour. The
mine o'clock bell'-famlar to most New
England people-which sends 30 many young
people homo and to bed, and which, in the early
history OF our country, was almost as rgidly
obeyed by all, both old and young, as the old
curfew, traces its origin directly to the cover
fire bell. In Longfellow's "Evangeline, " the
custom is well described:
"Anon the bell from the belfry
Rang out the hour OF nine-the village curfew
and straightway
| Rose the guests and departed; and silence
reigned in the household"
But now the customs have changed anC
though the bell still rings out on the evening
air, in country village and city street, it hat
lost its power, save as tell-tale Of passing
time. Let the old bells ring on we love thei
sound or, in the words of Moore
"Those evening bells those evening bells
How many tale their music tells,
OF youth, and home, and that sweet time
When last heard their soothing chime!"