The Portland daily press., 1883-11-26
Letter From Bangor.
Bells MisIead the Peopln-Humers Of thf
situation-Es il a Rueer Old Towns

BANGOR, Nov. "a.
Since the mayor has refused to adopt the
new time standard the bells of Bangor are in
q strange commotion; some Of them defy the
mayor and in consequence at every half hour
the hour il rung. At midday we do not know
whether it is forenoon or afternoon, and at
midnight whether it is to-day or tomorrow.
Naturally the people of Bangor are perturbe
also, for 1t is not only the fancy OF the poet
that lends great importance to the voices of tho
bells. Perhaps they do not ring poems to US
all as they did to Schiller and Gray, or fill our
ears with harmonies as they did to the child
Kullak, but they have led and guided us more
than we ever knew until now, when we find
they fail u.s.
They have been very well obeyed in this city.
They have told Us when to rise, when to eat,
when to sleep. The old inhabitants have
known their sounds by heart. They have
seemed thus as Interchangeable as the voices of the
wind and rain, and if hurricane had blown
from perfectly clear blue sky we should have
been scarcely more astonished than when We
heard the Unitarian clock strike the hour, and
the Orthodox Hammond street come lag
ging twenty-five minutes after. Until now
nothing has been able to disturb their har-
mony. Morning, noon and night, year in and
year out, they have rung together.
A. year or more ago new sound was heard
in our streets. The Universalst steeple dis
played an illuminated face aud made a loud tone
audible. Its voice was stronger than its neigh
bors, but they were not in the least disturbed
by that. They knew they had the respecta-
bility Of antiquity, and with the best possible
grace substituted trio for the hourly duet.
Above all mundane changes they kept sort
of lofty friendship, which for a long time typi-
fed the relations of our city churches. When
once the eordislity of these relations was most
seriously threatened you felt that the bells
remained the same, and would not allow the
slightest enmity to enter into their amicable
hourly greeting.
The morning the change OF time was to be
effected, Dr. hedge of Cambridge was preach
ing in the Unitarian pulpit. OF his noble dis
coarse heard it said, "Dr. Hedge has grown
more orthodox since he was pastor at Bangor"
(over thirty years ago). "Yet, no, that is not
true. The times have grown less orthodox"
believe it is the preaching of such men that
the bells approve for when theyr for church
they seem to speak of the few essential truths
that make religion and are always the same.
Outside of these DR.. Hedge has broadened his
views to admit physical evolution. Might not
the bells do well to follow his example and
bend little to modern ideas?
Meanwhile the Bcngcr people liye in hope
and exercise themselves in small sums of adj
dition and subtraction. They hear the Uni
IL L.11 AL. ase
obeys the mayor strike the hour, and at twelve
and one, by the old time, the city bells ring
and applaud its independence; then twenty-five
minutes later the great Universalist bell calls
out with dignity "Not quite SO fast, my friends
not quite so fasti' and proceeds to give US
what it considers the proper hour of the day.
The question "What time is it?" is now an
swered by another: "Do you want standard
or locsl time2'' The watch is drawn out, the
necessary allowances made, and as city we
are improving vastly in mathematics, vastly.
Some slender comfort is drawn from the crop
of funny anecdotes that spring up in the news
papers. A great harvest of them was predict
ed. The reality equals the expectation, and
bye ana bye a,ioke on the standard time will
be as trite as pun on tbs name of your friend.
The stories begin with that of q very old
lady who did not read the papers and went
crazy in the effort to set her clock by the
striking of the city bell.
Most suggestive is the account of the strsn-
ger at the Bangor House who must at all haz-
ards take the morning train. On awsking he
looked at the Unitarian clock and saw with
infinite dismay that he had but three minutes
to. catch the train. The mishaps that attend
ed his scramble to the station may be i'm
agined, and his astoDishment when he learned
there that the cars would not start fer twenty
three minutes. The part of the story that
touches us most deeply is this: Said the stran-
ger as he bought morning paper, "Whst a
queer old town this Bangor isl" Queer old
towni We know it is dear old town, but is
1t queer too I wonder?
S. w p.