The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-02-01
From the " Y. Evening Post.
Trinity Chimes.


- height look like crawling insects-i
"A a perfect wilderness of huge dust-cov
cred beams OfwOOd and braces Ofiron
y hang the great bells which make th
II chimes of Trinity Church. Few PEI
q sons who bave ears to hear have 70
a thirty years visited New York with
y out listening delightfully."- to the nObl
4 music thatTings forth every hour from
n the lofty spi-e of Trinity-and of al
= the many millions who have hear
. these bells probably not a dozen scor
e know anything Of their history, thei
N size or their capabilities.
Q Trinity Church spire, from the stree
Z level to the top of the golden eros
+ that surmounts it, is 284 feet high
4 The eager climber, in his pursuit o
: knowledge under difficulties, can onIy
q achieve the outlooking platform
= which is at height of 80 feet from
!. the ground, and which is reached bJ
: various flights of ordinary sleeps con
: Guiding with a narrow stairway
4 which in darkened tower winds abou
a central stone pillar for the last hun,
2 dred feet or so. The whole numbel
4 Of steps and stairs to be overcome Il
;, 308, and the last 50 or 100 are so near.
:. ly straight up and down as to be ex-
7 cedingly fatiguing. Indeed, taking
8 into consideration the narrowness ol
: the tower its darkness, and the short
! steps shortly curving round a central
stem, an imaginative man might fam
r ey himself in the bottom of huge
: stone bottle trying TO crawl out by
the corkscrew.
The climb is well worth the while
: Of almost any man of reasonable av-
; oirdupois for Once-fOr from this high
elevation q magificent view of the city
) is obtained, while its whole suburbs
] and surroundings are laid out before
| him as on q map unrOlled at his feet.
Not only are the cities of New York,
, Brooklyn, and Jersey City and all the
scores of cottages that circle round
each within his view, but the eye OF
J the behOlder can glance north through
! the city to the rural shades of West
Z chester and Connecticut; eastward he
can look clear oYerLOng Island to the
sea beyond turning his eye south
| ward it takes in Governors Staten,
BedlOe's and Gibbet Islands and then
sees through the Narrows the broad
Atlantic in the distance, while on the
west and north again he overlooks
the gOodly towns near New jersey
Newark, Jersey City, Orange, Wee
hawken, Union City, Communipaw
and others; and rest on the grand
old Palisades and the Catskill Noun
tains afar off, with the silvery Hud-
son cleaning at their feet as it rushes
onward past the great city to the
greater sea.
This is the "Visitorsi Platform ~,
above it twenty-five feet in the clock
tower, through the circular windows
of which the four large dials look tow
ard the four cardinal points of the
compass. These dials are accessible
by mechanics, who in case ofaccident
to the hands of the clock face, can
with much toll reach them by means
of ladders. Above this still tower the
spire and cross, far above the reach of
any save the most adventurous climb
er, and only necessary to be reached
in the case of some unusual or unfOr-
seen accident. A number of years
ago the cross was struck by lightning,
and for some days it remained a. a
most uncomfortable angle of inclina-
ton until at last a cool-headed man
was found to scale the perilOus steep
and set things right again.
The "chimes" at Trinity consists of
nine bells, each of which weighs sew
eral hundred pounds, and the largest
even running up into the thousands.
The musical range is an octave and a
quarter, and of course no air whose
notes cannot, by the musicians inge-
nuity, be brought within the range of
those nine notes can be properly per-
al Tho rrcrrol nf ho
regular octave are of course preserved,
but as the compass of the bells is so
narrow, only the simpler melodies,
and those which have but little vari-
alton between the highest and lowest |
notes can ba r1Iayz1SI--2TN OTO II1Ia-
ore ever Struck together, and such a
thing as O tichord" is unknown in |
Ginning. The notes follow one after |
another, somewhat like a child try
ing to play a tune on the piano with |
one finger.
Certain of the bells are connected |
with the church clock, the largest one
being that whose deep, sOnOrous strik- |
ing the "hours" we all know so well;
this is the highest of all the nine, and |
besides its regular duty of striking the |
hours, it forms one of the musical |
chime, and as amenable to the play |
er's hand by mears of the same ma
chinery which works its smaller COM
panions. The rest of the bells are |
much smaller, and strike the "quar-
tersn of the hour. These all are, when |
required for playing regular music, |
disconnected from the clock work, as |
their duties to theplayer and the clock |
would be very likely to seriously con-
flict. 1t would seem hardly correct |
to have "Hail Columbia" broken in |
by Nos. and striking up "quarter-
past-nine," or to have "Mear" or /
"Old Hundred" interrupted by "Big
Benz booming for the interesting but
irrelevent information that it was
twelve O'Clock, and 'time to close the
bar"
The huge bells though set on swing
ing frames, are lashed so as to be firm
and fast, and nothing but the iron
tongues are movable, these being
swung from the center to the side by
means of cord attached to each. The
tongues always strike in precisely the
same spot on the lip of the bell, thus
securing uniformity of vibration and
certainty of tone. Each tongue or
hammer is provided with a damper,
on the plan of the damper to the
strings on a piano, and for the same
purpOse-tO prevent the undesirable
prolongation of the sound, and the /
consequent running of the notes into |
each other.
The cord passes from the hammer of
the bell down one story to the ring
er's room; it is here attached to q /
long, wooden car, the leverage of /
which is so adjusted as to make the |
striking of the tongue as easy as possi- |
BILE. But even then the playing of a |
tune on Trinity bells is no child's |
play. Imagine nine large levers, each |
one, at the end where the hand touch |
es it, as big as adrayman's handspike. |
The player takes of his coat, stands |
up to his work and begins. Every |
note struck requires a sudden pull, or |
downward thrust of the lever, with a |
power which, if put in blow, would be |
sufficient to knock down the strong
est man.
For more than twenty-five years |
have the pleasant chimes of dear old
Trinity, every hour brought better
thoughts and higher hopes to the toll
ing thousands who have ever listened
to them gladly let US hope they may
ring out their welcome music for so
many years to come, that those they
have already passed shall be but a
single day in their long and useful
life.
An Irishman, being annoyed by
bowling dog in the night, jumped out
of bed to dislOdge the offender. 1t was
in the month of January, when the
snow was three feet deep. he not re-
! turning, his wife ran out to see what
was the matter. There she found her
husband in his night suit, his teeth
chattering and his whole body almost
paralyzed with cold, holding the strug-
Cling dog by the tail. "Holy mither,
Pat" said she, "what wud ye be after
doin'?D "Hush," said he; "don't
ye see? Pm trying to fraze the id
baster
A telling blow was dealt the other
Sunday at Atlanta, Georgia, by col
ored preacher as follows: "My brud-
ders and sisters, ebery thing you
| tink bout is fine close, fine close
You nebber tink OBJ anything else
4