Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-05-07
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y A Preacher =
- Among the People. =
HOW TIEY DISPENSED WITH
CHuROH BELLS IN HAMILToNIA.

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HOW TIEY DISPENSED WITH
CHUROH BELLS IN HAMILToNIA.
II was on Sunday morning in the
summer of '95. Paul Dempster and his
wife who lived in Hamihonia, beau
tiful town In the Muscova valley, had
been anxiously watching all night by
the bedside OF their sick daughter
Eva, then nearly eigteen years Of age,
About three O'Clock in the morning
she dropped into a refreshing sleep
which lasted until seveny then arousing
herself for a moment, she asked feebly
for drink of water. Her father rails
ed her gently and held the glass to her
lips, her mother in the meantime beat
up the pillows and made the bed as
comfortable as 1t could be made With
out disturbing her daughter serious
ly. AS gently as he had raised her up,
the father laid her down again. She
gave each one look of thankfulness,
|
Brown quietly entered the room few
minutes later, Eva was sleeping as
peacefully as little child. Without
speaking to the parents, 1.-THE doctor
walked noiselessly across the room,
and bending over his patient noted her
respiration. Laying one hand softly
otal.a I,a
took out his watch and counted the
pulse" The anxious look on his face
when he entered the room gave place
to one of delight and turning to the
parents, who had silently, but with al
most breathless interest awaited some
expression from him, he whispered:
"She has passed the crisis safely and
with good care will soon be we'll"
The father grasped the doctors hand
and without uttering a word, indicat-
ed his gratitude, while the mother
sank into chair and silently wept for
JOY
For moment all was still, then af-
ter whispering his instructions, the
doctor turned and left the room.
Athoughl she had one or two short
periods of restlessness, when nine
O'Clock came Eva was enjoying a nat
ural and refreshing sleep which might
have continued but for the fact that
just as the town clock struck nine, a
dozen church bells began to clsng. She
awoke with start, and for the next
five minutes her poor nerves were
rasped by the terrible and fearfully
discordant noise. .D
Noting the effect on their daughter
the parents quickly closed the. wind
ows and doors, but while that subdued
the disturbing element somewhat, it
did not remove it.
Hamiltonia was noted as a religious
town and half dozen times that day
those bells were rung, to the great dis
comfort of nearly all the people who
lived near them and with fearful ef-
feet upon Evas' nerves. Just as
they were ringing for the last
time in the evening the doc
tor, arrived and noting that the
doors and windows were closed, he
rather bluntly ordered them to be
opened. Paul explained that they had
just then been closed in Eva's defense,
and that as soon as the bells ceased
changing they would be opened again.
The explanation satisfied the doctor as
far as the immediate interests OF his
patient were concerned; but on exam
lining her he declared that the church
bells had practically undone all that
nad been done for her that day.
That night Paul Dempster and his
wife spent nearly three hours discuss
ing the good and evil that attended the
ringing of church bells. They were |
both devout members OF the First |
Church Of Hamihonia, and were an
xious to serve the moral and spiritual |
interests of the town, hence they were |
10th to lead in a movement about |
which there was almost certain to be
wide difference of opinion, and yet they |
could not escape the conviction that
since clocks had found there way into |
nearly everybody's homes and watches
into nearly everybody's pockets, there
was no real need chat called for the
ringing of multitudious and discord-
an. church Iells in large centers of
population.
When DR.. Brown called the next |
morning he found that while Eva had
gained somewhat in twelve hours, she
was still suffering more or less from
the ordeal of the preceding day.
AS he was also a member OF the First
Paul and his wife told him
frankly of their discussion and the
conclusion they had reached concern
ing the ringing of church bells in
HamlltOnia. The Doctor said he rec
ognized they had excellent ground up
on which to base their conclusion, and
yet he hesitated to take a positive
stand aglnst the bells because 1t was
quite generally believed that while
there were serious objections to them,
rheir tongues, though dlscordant and
harsh, reached many an ear and re-
minded many a careless one Of his du-
ties to God and man.
Mrs. Dempster asseRted to the doc
tors statement, but added that # all