The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-22
THE CURFEW BELLS.
"a RELIC OF ANclo-saskoN ENGLAND
REVIVED ~ TINS COUNTRY.

IN Some Parts of England the Custom
Has Never Rec. interrupted. and Such
Also Has Been che Case In New Eng
land-Its Recent Adoption In the West.
What Is the curfews Its ctymology car
rjes its history with it The word comes
from the French couvre-feu (cover fre), a
hell tolled at evening as a signal 10 the In
habitants 10 cover fires, extinguish lights
and retire TO rest. Ii Is enormously said
20 have been instituted In England by Will
liam the CopQueror as an arbitrary bit OF
tyranny, and the nursery historian has
waxed sentimental over the wrongs Of the
conquered Saxon, and conjured up pictures
that must be balm TO the downtrodden
Celt Even Thompson tells us:
The shivering wretches at the curfew sound,
Detected, sunk into their sordid beds.
But the couyre-feu was known before
williams time, both In England and on
the continent. He did, indeed, issue an
eiict on the subject, and, although this
etiict may Incidentally have helped to put
down the Saxon beer clubs, which were
hotbeds Of political conspiracies, Its pri-
mary aim was as a precaution against fire.
That danger was an ever present one In
those days of chimneyless wooden houses
The ancient city ordinances Of London
abound in stringent fire regulations None
Of them, however, was more effective than
the cover fire bell, which as far hack as
the time Of King Alfred was rung in GER
tain places In England. Williams edict
rendered compulsory an ancient custom.
But Ii was a wise legislative act and not q
bit of arbitrary tyranny. We find plenty
OF early traces of the custom or its equiva-
lent, as, for instance, the blowing Of horn
at the market place in continental Europe.
1t is curious instance of the oonserv-
ative tendency of the rural mind In Eng
land that the custom of ringing the cur
few should have SO long survived Its orig
inal significance
Curfew Is still religiously tolled in many
Of towns and villages, either all
the year around or-which is still more
September to April. No part
of the kingdom can claim it as a special
proof Of its adherence to a primitive sim
plicity. Geographically considered, its
survivals are by no means uninstructive.
1t tolls from the isle of Wight in the south,
through Kent and Surrey, Middlesex, Suf-
folk, Norfolk Lincoln, York, Durham and
and even across the
border in the Scotch lowlands And IL
can be traced again through Cumberland
and Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire,
Stafford, Motifs, Leicestershire, Worcester.
shire, Shropshire, Hertfordshire, Mon
down to Devon and Dorset
1t is, in short, perpetuated all over the
kingdom. Here and there it has become
with local customs. At New
castle, until 1t was discontinued, 1t was
the signal for shutting the shops At Dur
ham again, where it is tolled at 9 o'clock,
It heralds the closing of the college gates,
while in many Cheshire and Yorkshire
villages it has for hundreds of years warned
farmers to lock up their cattle for the
night. The almost universal hour at which
1t Is tolled Is 8 o'clock in the evening, al
though here and there it Is rung instead
at and o o'clock. In some places, too,
there is morning curfew, curious vari-
alton. At Stow, for instance, iJ Is, or was
lately, rung as early as 4 o'clock in the
and Mt Tamworth at the more
reasonable hour of 6 o'clock. At Waltham-
in-the- Wolds, again, grateful farmer
who was lost In the snow and found his
way home by its sound left a field to en-
dow a 8 o'clock curfew forever.
The facts, indeed, plainly show that the
custom has kept It's hold on the popular
sympathies through all the ages. The
pilgrims and the Puritans brought 1t over
with them to New England, where the
curfew bell Is still rung in many towns
and villages In the "Bells of Lynn"
Longfellow appeals to the ''curfew of the
setting sun" as heard at Nahant, and 9TH
or illusions are freely found in our native
poets.
Nay, SO firmly has the curfew intrenched
itself in parts of New England that In
1894 there was n popular uprising at the
old seaport town of Portsmouth, N H.
when the more progressive residents sought
to abolish the ringing of the bell of the
North church at O'Clock every night.
This bell rang when General Washington
stopped over night In the town, and also
when Daniel Webster was reading cases In
a law Office there. 1t had sent generations
to bed. Should 1t be silent now? "Nop'
cried the old timers as they rose In their
wrath and kept on ringing 1t.
1t was about the same time that the cur.
few habit spread to the west and, later, to
the south. 1t started at Saltwater, Mimi,
and by July, 1895, about 90 other towns In
that state had passed curfew ordinances.
Not only that but other towns in Oregon,
Washington, Idaho. South Dakota, Ne.
braska, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, In
diana and Georgia had followed the leader
The general principle Of the curfew or
dinances Is the same wherever they have
been adopted, but the ordinances differ In
details. The idea Is to provide that chill.
dren under a certain age, varying in differ.
ent towns from l8 down to 10 years, shall
not be on the streets Of the town after q
stated time, ranging from half past p. IN.
10 p m, unless accompanied by law
ful guardian. The penalty for violation of
the ordinance also varies In different towns.
New York Herald.
Dying Peowle.