El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-27
PASSING of Church Bells.
Chicago Times Herald.


Some men with q tendency to insomnia
hear the bell of a neig boring church
ringing in the early morning hours
and the sound disturbs him to such an
extent that he flies into print with MS
oieysuce. There is the usual agitation
over the subject, arguments pro ana
CON, and occasionally the law Is lnvoK-
ed to abate what Is denounced as
nuisance. There being no law that
can Impress the bells. the matter Is
usually settled out OF court.
When Nelson's triumph and death at
Trafalpar were announced the bells OF
Chester rang the alternate peal OF vic
torv and toll of sorrow-the deep, I'M
gering note of death. -
ON The night when President Car
field died, when all were sleeping
through the land, all the church oeiis
OF city or village ruug simultaneously,
awakening people to knowledge 'ha'
the END had come.
In America the use of the church
bell has been modulated, especially In
cities. 40 that it's constant ringing
should not interfere with business. Inc
old custom still prac Iced in Englsno
of the passing bell, ringing as many
strokes for funeral as the years Vi
life, has never obtained here 10 any
extent. The tolling bell has also oeen
generally discontinued, as its mortuary
notes were considered too depressing.
But the bells of our many churches
still ring to call the congregation 10
service.
The introduction of bells into
churches dates back to 100 "A. ID. In
France they were first rung In ooo, put
they were not in common use until the
Fourteenth Century. In monklsn anu
medieval daya they did not always
ring in the interests of religion. Many
q dark and bloody chapter OF history
has been ruug in by the bells OF
church. On Easter Monday, l3S2, when
the Sicilian vesper bells were rung,
5000 OF the French people were put TO
a violent death of John of Procida TO
free the Island OF Sicily from French
rule, and 1t was church bell tnas
gave the signal for the massacre oil
the Huguenots in France.
Church bells in the beginning were
invested with supernatural power, ana
voices from heaven were said to De
heard in their solemn utterauces'
The metal of which they were made
had in its composition some sonorous
substance known only to the lew
concerned in its casting. Kings ana
Queens came from afar TO cast their
jewels into the molten mass,
thrown In by people as
votive offerings. Many bellmaker
killed himself because he could not
ind the tone in his bell that struck
with the required melody. good oeii
when rung has one note so clear ana
anyone with an ear for music can tel
what that note Is. 1t was the music In
the reverbation, the sweet consonance
of sound, that, coming from the air,
seemed TO the ignorant like voice
from heaven.
Bells were baptized with great cere-
mony, and to this day in Catholic
countries the blessing OF the bell Is
religious and solemn rite. The great
bell of Notre Dame, Paris, was oaptiz-
ed by the name OF the Duke oil Ar
goulsme In 1916.
King Egbert, OF England, command
ed every priest to ring the church bells
at stated times, and put the command
into perpetustion by written orders
under his hand and seal. Henry VIII.
made war upon all church bells aud
Invested them of their high powers by
substituting profane literature Tor the
sacred messages used in their inscrip-
tions.
The legend of the bells was often
quaint and suggestive. The Cathedral
bell at Schaffhausen, Switzerland,
bears these words:
1 call for the living,
toll for the dead.
break the thunderbolt.
Schiller took his idea for the ''Song
OF the Bells" from it. Another had
this:
When 1 ring,
Gods praises sing.
When toll,
Pray heart and soul.
In London, England, there is one
bell that rings only on the death Of
royalty. 1t is the great bell OF St
Psufs Church.
IL can be easily understood how vel.
come the sound OF the church bel
sparsely settled community, where
occasional service is held, and the
news, communicated by the sound OF
the bell pealing out from the valley OIL
hill, wafting the good news OF wor
ship, Is most welcome. There, too
the sound is localized by its surround
Jugs.
1--WE no Longer need to know the time
by the church bells as people once did
and III we can go to the theater with
out the ringing of bell, why not &c
church,"
There is somsthing in that senti
ment, too. The still alarm has taker
the place of the fire bell, and even the
dinner bell is relegated to obscurity, a
people ara supposed to be prompt anC
have meals ready at the time named IN
these wideawake days.
The sentiment of the bells has ceased
to charm. Our ancestors could locate
heaven and hell; we cannot, although
about things earthly we know a grea
deal more than they did. We understand
something OF the laws of gravitatiou
and no longer believe that the sun ''dC
move" And we lack the reverence
which gave us songs of bells to thrill
our souls and great religious pictures
inspired by faith so sublime that 1t!
possessors were lifted above the orfi
nary affairs of life. To them the mes
sage of the bells was the sweetes
music.
In Russia, France, Italy and MeXicC
the church bells rings nearly ever.
hour, and at Christmas and Easte
their festal strains are the music of tn,
people. Ii would be considered impi
Gus TO complain in any of these couu
tries, where man ia as he is in Anne
RIGA.
We object to the church bell, tn