The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-08-04

birthplace of Giotto (the designer and
i part builder Of this beautiful bell tower),
and set with richly colored marbles,
and adorned with choicest sculptures.
Ruskin calls it ':the only building in
the world in which power and beauty
exist in the highest possible degree. y
A traveller says: 81 have listened to
| the noted bells of many a foreign city,
but have not heard the sweetness nor
felt the charm rs in these Florentine
ones. Heard in the storm, the sun
shine, at mathis, at vespers, on Joyous
ftte days, or in the deep toll which
calls the Miscricordia to their errand
of mercy-fa faithful still to their duties
through six centuries and more, that
grand band of men, from artisan to
king, serving their fellow men-the
Campanile bells thrill you with their
rich. soothing tones, beginning, as it
were, with the deep, rich notes of an
organ, and dying away into the choicest
strains. All Italy is proud of her
Florentnc bells, and well she may be. ;"
LEGENDS OF CHINA's GREAT BELL.
The largest hanging bell in the world
is in Buddhist monastery, near Can
ton, China. 1t is eighteen feet high
and forty-flve feet in circumference,
and is of solid bronze 1t is one of
eight great bells which were cast by
command of the Emperor Yung-lo,
about A. ID. 400, and is said to have
cost the lives Of eight men, who were
killed during the process of casting.
The whole bell, both inside and out, is
covered with an inscription of embossed
Chinese characters, about half an inch
long covering even the handle, the total
number being 81 900. The characters
tell single story-one of the Chinese
classics
Canton has pretty little fable con-
nected with it. The story Is told by
Mrs. j. p. Newman, i'm one of her
sketches of travel The life of the
founder of the greatest bell of China
had been threatened by the Emperor
because of his unsuccessful attempts
to make bell having perfect purity
of tone. The bell founders beautiful
daughter, witnessing her fathers agony
while imploring the Emperor for one
more trial, consulted the gods as to the
reason for failure. Being told that
should the blood of fair maiden min
gle with the bell metal the result would
be secured, she, waiting beside her
father until able to see Der face in the
molten ore, plunged in, and was de-
stroyed. To the sacrifice of this maiden
the Chinese attribute the beauty and
sweetness of the tone of the great bell
Of Ta-Cung-tze.
One of the most novel propositions
submitted to the management of the
Omaha exposition is that of Wong
Chin Foo, the Chinese commissioner.
He offers to reproduce on the exposi-
tion grounds the great bell of Canton.
1t would he cast, according to his
proposition, by workers in iron, to be
imported from China.
HISTORIC BELLS OF AMERICA.
1t was once explained by noted
English critic that America lacked in
terest for the learned traveller, because
it was devoid of ruins And it might
be said also that it had not many bells
to which any special interest attaches.
Still, there are more interesting bells
in this country than any one would
suppose, who had not studied the sub
ject.
The bell in the stecple Of the First
Baptist Church, at Providence, r. /.
the church organized as tradition
says, in 1859, by Roger Williams
WAS cast in London, about the year
l775. 1t first bore this inscriptions:
"For freedom of conscience the town was
first planted;
parSn1CInn tnrrn
people;
This church is the Oldest and has not re-
Enjoying and granting bell, temple and
steeple."
In 1877 the bell was broken, and
had to be rccast, 1t was then made to
bear this inscription:
This church was formed A ID. 1859,
the first in the state. and the oldest of the
Baptists in America"
1t was recast again in March, and
also in September, Of the year 1914.
1t now bears this inscription:
This church was founded in 1859, by
Roger Williams, its first pastor, and the
first asserter of liberty of conscience. 1t
was the first church in Rhode Island, and
the first Baptist Church in America
This old liberty bell is still rung
every morning at sunrise, every day at
noon, and every evening at nine clock.
NEWBURGS $ HISTORIC BELL.
An old bell, placed with several other
treasured relics in the Washington
Headquarters at Newburg, has his
tory worth telling. 1t is small, weigh
ing barely twenty-five pounds, exceed
ingly sweet-toned, and was made, as
Latin inscription informs us, at Am
sterdam, in the year l7l6 In l7l9 it