Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-05-01
EASTER BELLS.
AN HOUR AMONG THE CHIMES
OF OLD TRINITY.
How the Campanologist Sends An
thems and Carols Pealing From
Brazen Throats-Ringing in
Washington's Inauguration.

hGhE are bWo ways cl ring
IL . ing chimes. The old way is
SO laborious that only an un-
usually strong and active
man can do the work. Who SO rings
by the newer method may sit quietly
on stool or chair and, by the aid of
electricity, play on the bells with per-
haps less exertlon than is needed to
play on the piano.
Trinity's famous chimes are rung by
the old method, and Mr.. Alfred Meis-
lahn, the campanologist-for he is
more than a mere bell ringer-is q
stalwart, middle aged man, who weighs
245 pounds and speaks of his bells
with all the pride and affection that q
.virtuoso would refer to his favorite
violin or coronet. It is traditional to
speak of a belfry as san eyrie," but
the belfry of Trinity aud the chimer's
room Immediately beneath it are both
too large for the customary title, be-
ing at least twenty feet square, inside
measurement. If you wish to visit
them, it will be necessary first to get
signed permit from the rector, DR..
Morgan Dix. Then, if you wish to
be told entertainingly of the chimes,
hunt up Mr.. Meislahn, and with him
mount the stone stairs that wind up,
corkscrewlike, to the chimer's
chamber. BY the time you have fin
ished the ascent you will have made
up your mind that you have reached
giddy height, although you often so
higher probably, by elevator, in some
of the sky scrspers of these modern
days.
Mr.. Meislahn will light the candles
that are needed even in the daytime
to illuminate his music, and you will
observe that though the chamber is
so large that it is not matched in many
New York apartment houses, its
height makes it look small. Its four
windows are merely circular holes in
the massive stone walls of the tower,
which they pierce high above the
level of mans head. The sills of
these windows serve as abutments for
massive pieces of framing past which
the rays of the day struggle, spread.
ing gray and churchly light over the
apartment. Standing in the center OF
the floor, if the chimer has left the
little door of entrance open, you can
look down through the nave of the
fine old church to tho stained glass
windows at the other end of the build
ing.
Trinity's bells are ten in number.
Details of their history are hard to
get. All but one are of English found.
ing, and some Of them were cast in
the eighteenth century. The heaviest
weighs 5000 pounds, and the lightest
500. They are in the key of D, and
range from D to E, being in order D,
E, r, G, A, B, 9, q sharp and E.
Almost every suitable air can be
played on these sonorous bells, but OF
course the music has to be transposed
if it was originally written in some
key not within The rauge of the bells.
Mr.. Melslahn does this transposing
himself. and, of course, plays mostly
from manuscript.
When Mr.. Meislahn had explained
the workings of the levers and leather
cords and springs by means of which
he evokes the music of the bells, he
played new piece for the Press man
who WAS calling on him. So sweet
toned is the chime, SO harmoniously
attuned are the bells, that, though
their brazen throats were but few
feet above the listener, their notes
were as pleasing as if heard from the
street.
1t was in 1889, the year OF the Con-
stitutional Centennial, that the tenth
bell was added. It is known ss the
Centennial Bell, and is suitably in-
scribed. The procuring of bell that
would perfectly harmonize with the
older nine in the chime was not IN
easy matter, and two or three attempts
were made before success was attained.
When George Washington was in
augurated in 1889 there were but four
bells. In 1916 more bells were pro-
cured from England, bell founding
not as yet having been made success
in the New World, and one of the few
scraps of the chimes history that are
floating about is q story of how, when
they were ready to be shipped, their
departure from Englaud's shore was
delayed for some time because the
vessel on which they were to come
also brought a menagerie, and the
place on the ship that WAS to have
been occupied by the bells was taken