Kansas City daily journal., 1897-01-24
The BELLS OF The WORLD.
THEIR SOUNDS PROCLAIM JOY OR
SADNESS IN MANY LANDS.
The First New Years Chimes Were
RunE in EngInnd-Ben of NOtre
Dame in Montreal Is the
Largest in America.
From the Cincinnati Commercial.

From the Cincinnati Commercial.
There is n chime of bells which, if rurg
one after another in longitudinal scale.
would reach around the world. The bells
hang in different countries and have each
a separate history. This, told chroncloS-
ically, would give a record Of the world.
for the bells, reach back to the early
Egyptians and the days of bondage. Taken
separately, they mark historic epochs.
Our own Liberty bell is one of the china.
1t cracked ringing Tor independence. that
blessed crack that is its proudcst mark
ing; but its sound is still sweetest music.
Before the moment 1t cracked for JOY that
bell could be heard far and wide, and its
peal easily reached the outskirts of the
young republic of which it was the proud,
cheerful spokesman.
Spain has bell that is its prophet. 1t is
its soothsayer oracle and guide. This bell,
tho famous Viliela, has hung for centuries
in the historic castle, keeping watch over
the nation.
It is the most celebrated bell in Europe.
though not proud nor handsome. Its fame
rests not so much upon its notes, though
these are hiEh-pitched, soft and clear: nor
upon its size, for there are other bells IN
Spain much larger; but upon its person
1.-The Bells of the Tower have been
noted for centuries as having a power of
their own. Ring out, wild bells. means
terror. And Chime. ye bells, means they
can speak for joy. The beIlringer does the
best he can for them; but it is true the
bells add Il force of their own.
The Nillela is Spanish bell that for
Years has foretold any impending trouble
to the nation. When the father of little
Alphonso died the Villela began tolling in
the night and tolled until morning light.
In the ten years Cuban war the bell struck
awful tones on the nights of defeats. And
when great fires have touched the castle
and sickness or insurrection threatened the
throne. the Villela has lifted up its voice
in sudden loud warning.
Last week the Villela tolled again. 1t
was one short. quick stroke. Only Il few
heard it, but they ran to tell the dreadful
tidngs. Did it mean more disaster in
valuts beyond penury to debt? The Villela
would not tell, but it sent out its warning
note.
Russia has n coronation bell 1t is the
largest in the world. and weighs half IA
million pounds. Its sound has never been
bounded, and it is said, like the emperor's
voice. to reach to heaven.
1t hangs in the Kremlin. 1t is the en-
peror's hell, and is rung only in honor of
him. AT the coronation it pealed forth as
the emperor entered the church, and its
voice announced the conclusion of the GER
emony to the whole of Russia. The coro-
nation bell is rung by bellringer blessed
The bellringer does no other work, and Is
always on duty to tell of important events
in the family of the emperor
He is penSioned. OF late he has been busy
polishing up the bell for special happen
ings. He rings when his majesty goes to
church, and in case of the death of a Rus
sian monarch the kremlin bell tolls con-
stantly between the death and the time
of the funeral.
Since Russia is the home of bells it is
not wonderful that it should hold the larg-
est unrung bell in the world. This bell
now makes n building in the Kremlin. 1t
was cast two centuries ago, but was found
too heavy to remove from the pit The
Russian monarchs, one after another, tried
to have it lifted, and hundreds of lives
were sacrificed in the shifting pit of sand nd
broke out and heated the bell in its pit.
quantity of cold water flowed in around it,
and a great piece, the size of door. was
broken out. The Russian king Immediate
ly ordered it lifted to pedestal and set
within the Kremlin, where it is sometimes
thick and it is twenty-five feet high.
The dearest bells in France are the
Angels. made famous by Mllet, and the
bells of Notre Dame. Milet's son still lives
in the little home overlooking the stone
church, where the Angels bell hangs and
every night he goes out to hear 1t toll
say mass The bells of Notre Dame are the
largest bells of sweetness in the world One
of them weighs 5000 pounds The maker
who cast 1t would never disclose the secret
of it's loud, sweet tone.
The japanese have the largest bells, but
the crudest. s. unskilled are they that
many of them will not ring, and so they
are obliterated from the fist of bells. The
best bells are Il mixture of copper and tin.
with u hammer one-twentieth the weight of
the bell. The Japanese bells, even if cast
correctly, have too small hammers. Or
they are cast to sound like tin, and the
hammer does not strike roundly. One of
these. the Little Giant. has never been
weighed. 1t is said to weigh comparatively
little, being of some light Japanese metal;
announce births and deaths in the royal
family. Its clapper is small, elongated
affair that strikes with a double sound.
and the Little Giant is easily recognized
when heard.
The bell of Notre Dame in Montreal is
the largest bell in America, but not the
sweetest. This attribute is claimed by the
biggest bell of Trinity's chime. in New
York. which is so surprising in its deli
cacy and so penetrating in its pureness
that rich and poor alike stand all night in
all weather. to hear it ring in the new
year. The most inclement weather never
Keeps them away, and so demonstrative do
they sometimes become at its sound that
Trinity's rector has once or twice forbid
den the chime to ring at midnight. 1t is
cast in E fiat.
The countries of Turkey Greece. Italy
and Egypt have not many famous bells.
Bells are not in good repute there from the
fact that criminals wear them around
the neck and lepers are strung with them.
In the temples the high priests decorate
their robes with small jmglinG bells. and
this is another reason why bells cannot
become common. In Turkey they are con-
spicuously unpopular. and that country is
the only one that positively fOrbidS the
ringing in of the new year with bells.
The first New Years chimes were rung
in England in 1900. and quickly did the
news of them travel that soon every capt.
tai of Europe had chimes. America has the
most chimes of any country in the world.
and few cities of the United States but
have their Ginning bells.
The voice of the bells has. since the in
PRODUCTION of the church bell first blessed
in SEQ, been the means of announcing the
new year. They hang between the spheres.
as high towards heaven as towers can be
built. and are supposed, TO be capable Of
telling TO the universe what can be told by
no other medium, the dawning of "a new
year.