The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-01-02
ALL ABOUT BELLS.
Their Dignity and Romance, History and
AntiuuitV.

Their Dignity and Romance, History and
Antiquity.
A special lecture was delivered re-
Gently in Huntington hall, Massachu-
sets Institute'of Technology, by Rev.
ii. R. Haweis, NJ. A., on Bells" The
lecture was illustrated by bell espec-
tally cast for Mr.. Haweis for his Boston
lectures. 1t is most perfect in every
respect. 1t is three feet high by two
and one-half in diameter, surmounted
by crown. On the bell is Liberty's
head, encircled with the thirteen stars.
The inscription is "The Bell Expert
mented with by H. r. Haweis, Author
of emusic and Morals" Before the
Lowell Institute, 1885. Cast by Sew
erin Van Aerschodt, Louvrin, Belgium,
1885,"
The lecturer said: 'My conception
of bell is that of musical note. 1t
is itself gulf out of which beautiful
and sweet sounds emanate. In the
clang of bell we get a fundamental
note, which rings out above all, and
which the ear readily catches. The
sound of bell is really musical
chord. There are a great many histor-
ical bells. A very noted one is in the
leaning tower of Pisa, another is in the
old city of Antwerp which dates from
the thirteenth century, and another
there in the cathedral called the 'Hor-
rida," dating from 1916. 1t was the
old tocsin. Throughout Germany are
gate bells in the cities, which ring
when the gates are about to be closed.
The curfew is still rung in Cambridge
and Ely, and in the old provinces in
England, as kind of antiquarian rem
iniscence. In Tourney, which is very
often overlooked by travellers, there
are most melodious BELLS
| The lecturer next considered the mot
toes on bells, their antiquity, and the
relation of bells to the lives of monks.
The monk was the first person to have
! the true conception of sound, and it
was he who first undertook to improve
the art, under the guidance of the
church, which it was that fostered
music.
at was during the sixteenth cent
ury," said the lecturer, 'that the art of
music came into existence. With it
came the improved sensibility to
sound, and it was then that bells be-
came melodious, instead of giving
harsh and crude sounds, During this
period the best violins, as well as the
best bells, were made. The English
which they are fain to admit-first got
the art of bell founding from the Bel
\ rriopc II vyoc tbav Ero+ b;+ IN =,
model of tuneful bell, and worked
and experimental over it until they
produced the perfect bells for which
to this day they are noted. The Bel
gian bells are combined in suites of
forty or fifty, tuned to semi-tones, and
so form a colossal musical instrument.
Bells were used in the lowlands, nota-
bly, in the war with Spain, when a
neighborhood was to be alarmed or
troops assembled. They were used
also to signal.
''On what depends the excellence of
bell? The material from which it
is made, which are tin and copper,
with very rarely little zinc added.
Tin and copper are the best materials.
Some think that silver and gold make
SOOu DellS, Or IndG SILVER alone, OF
mixed, makes good bell. Not so.
The more silver in bell the worse it
is. The tin in Belgian metal is from
twenty-three to thirty parts, and in
English from twenty-five to thirty-one-
The founders are very particular about
the material used, rejecting and mis-
trusting old metal. They use the
purest obtainable copper, The Bel
gians have no rule by which they make
bells. They seem to have inherited
this faculty of founding. The Belgian
bell aims, first, to give one fundamental
note, together with the upper partials.
In the sound of the bell, the third,
fifth and octave are right with this
! fundamental note. The sounds of the
bell chord with others, and the sound
is like chord. The bell must be true
with itself. In the cantons of Switzer-
land they have an automatic arrange
ment by which the bells are rung
throughout the night, and, by their
varied notes and sounds, making sweet,
harmonious music. "-Bosto1a Herald.
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