Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1880-11-23

Saxon history have been thus celebrated
-"And with the peals of merry bells
over all England and Holland, and with
a solemn TIE Deum' resounding in every
church, the curtain fell upon the great
tragedy of the Armada" says Motley.
Of the granting the Petition Of Right in
1923 by King Charles, Green says !:
The Kings Consent won a grant of
subsidy. and such a ringing Of bells and
lighting Of bonfires from the people as
were never seen but upon his Majesty's
return from Spain This had been the
custom from time immemorial. In the
Crusades when the news came that the
Christians had fought in the Holy Land
and had won the victory.
"Loud. loud the warder blew his horn,
And his ban ner waved ON high.
Let the mass be sung. and the bells be rung,
And the feast cat merriiy."
Of course discretion should be used as
to the occasion. A peal at night which
announces triumph in which but half
the people can rejoice, sounds
Like sweet bells tangled, out OF tune and
harsh"
in defeated ears. But who objected when
our city bells rang loudly out at midnight
the glad news of Lees surrender. Did
they not, rather, bless the brazen throats
which shouted so loudly the return of
gentle peace, and the swift coming Of
husband, father, son and brother from
the bloody battlefield:
THE Sunday church bell is considered
by some relic Of barbarism." So it is.
The Greeks used bells as signals in their
camps. The Romans rang them to an
nounce the time Of bathing The
Egyptians used them at the feast of
Osiris, and the Christians when they took
the heathern temples for churches conse-
Grated the bells. They were used in
churches as early as A. ID. 400, and came
to England and France in the 7th century.
The Abbey of Croyland, to which the
Lady Godiva and Hereward's deserted
wife retired, had great bell called
Guthiac, presented by an Abbot, who
died in SO, and we can imagine the
sound of its toiling coming across the
marshes TO the ear of William the Con-
querer, when he besieged Hereward in
that last retreat.
So for fifteen hundred years the bell
has called Christians to the worship of
God, to the christening of infants, to the
marriage Of young man and maiden and
the solemn passing bell has toiled while
honored age has gone slowly to its last
resting place. The marriage bell has al
most gone out from us, and more's the
pity. II was a beautiful observance.
Childe Harold bears testimony to its po-
tent influence when he says:
"And all went merry as a marriage bell"
Are not our people like to lose their
reverence for religion fast enough without
banishing the time e-honored monitor
which reminds them of their Christian
duties When our sailor boys 90 to
foreign lands will not the memory of the
sweet toned church bell linger in their
minds and help to keep them pure and
worthy Of their New England homes
And how will it seem to them 10 drop
anchor here on a Sabbath morning in
Summer after years of wandering, and
to listen in vain for the hallowed sound,
the thought of which has cheered their
absence and fingered in their dreams
Shakespeare makes Orlando use them as
a strong appeal to the Duke:
'If ever you have looked on better days,
fever been where bells have knolled for church |
II ever sat At any good mans feast,
II ever from your eyelids wiped tear,
And know what it's 10 pity and be pitied-
Let gcntleness my strong enforcement be-"
Until philosophy gives us better and
kindlier religion than christianity, shall
we not, if the bells are stilled, think we
"have look on better days" and go back
with regret to the memories of childhood,
when the Sabbath brought US rest, and
when a wave of music swept over the
city as the Ginning bells called father,
mother and children to the house of |
prayer, When the Sabbath bell which |
for fifteen hundred years has been
symbol of Christianity, is abolished, We
shall expect to see Christianity decay, and
the Christmas bells,
"Ringing, ringing. soft and clear
Echoes OF the passing year.
Ringing Christmas chimes again
Peace on earth. good will TO men,"