The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-10
Ginning OF GREAT BELLS
Melody From the Steeples of New
York Churches.
Modern improvements in the Method
OF Ringing Out Their Music-The
Westminster Pcals in England and
ThOse Sounded Out From Old Trim
hy and Other Religious Edifces.


that the ringing of the church bells puts
to fight the powers of darkness those who
combat vice and all wickedness in New
York have received a considerable re-
enforcement since SO many of the churches
have followed the example set by Old
Trinity in 1916 of placing a peal of bells
in their towers and using them. On the
same theory 1t may be inferred that New
York city is now better protected against
high winds and lightning than ever before.
The famous old Latin rhyme of the bells
which Longfeliow introduces in his Cold
en- Legend" asserts for them the power
of breaking the lightnings" and scatter
ing the Winds, and the most recent con-
illusions OF science lend some color to
this, since it has been established as at
least probable that heavy vibrations of
the air at a considerable height tend to
dissipate storm clouds or interfere with
their accumulation. But it must be ad
mitted that the two Old Trinities, of Man
haitian and Brooklyn; st. AIMS, Brooklyn;
st. Michaels. Amsterdam Avenue, and, in
deed, most of the New York churches.
| were not provided with bells from any
Sucn motives as theSe.
What may be called the American
Church chime movement appears to have
an almost entirely aesthetic motive-the
! motive of filling the air with music as
f, it is filled with music in many rural
district of England on Sunday mornings.
England is, by excellence, the home OF
chimes. II is true that
The bells OF siandon
Sound 30 grand
The pleasant waters Of the River Lee
/ which is in Ireland. that Avignon is "the
! City of Bells" and that there are-or
were-the chimes of Normandy at Corne-
/ Vile. But peals Of great bells, carefully
tuned to the tones of a scale, are less
common in Latin countries than are ap-
parently haphzard and Giscordant aggre-
cations of small instruments producing
sounds painfully like those of the empty
tin cans which the boyhood of New York
kick in their sport about the cobblestones
OF the streets
In this affair of church peals New York,
having begun somewhat late in history
is ambitious to profit by the advances in
! the art Of bell founding which bad been
made long before. peal of bells is,
.
duce tones at recognized Intervals. These
tones are not necessarily a series forming
whole diapason or continuous part CT
II. For instance, the Westminster peal
an exceptionally fine example of which
form the equipment OF the campanile of
st. Agnes Chapel. at Ninetysecond
Street and Columbus Avenue is made UP
OF only four tones. the sixth, fifth, fourth,
and first of a major scale. This set of
tones is necessary and sufficient for the
Westminster changes, or chimes, which
ring cut the quarter of every hour from
the clock tower of the houses of Parlia-
ment ct Westminster; one change for the
first quarter. two for the second, three
for the third, and four for the full hour.
! Besides its association with the tower on
which the prayer Domino, salyam fac
| Reginam nostram Victorian" CLord, save
our Queen Victoria) glitters in letters of
gold, this peal is also notable as having,
according to tradition had its changes
composed by Handel. 1t was borrowed by
Westminster from the Church OF St. Mary.
Cambridge. The st. Agnes bells claim the
distinction-if they are so much younger
IN years than their Hrototypes-of being
the largest Westminster peal. arranged
for ging, in the world the largest
bell of the four weighing about 1000
pounds. with bell wheel nearly twelve
feet T. diameter.
arranged for swinging It is necessary
10 remember that the changes on most
peals OF bells in New York being r1ng by
an apparatus of levers and hammers, the
swinging" arrangement is only useful for
ringing one or two bells when the ring
ing case" as the more modern mechanism
is called. is out of working order. Until
well on in the last century the separate
bells in all church peals were provided
nil I'll
on straight beams or trusses and the ring
ers swung them by means OF ropes pass
ing over great wheels rigidly attached to
these beams. The straight beams were
later on exchanged for yokes eurving over
the top OF the bell so as to afford crater
leverage and bring the oscillations sooner
to the point OF ringing. But for all or
binary needs church bell nowadays need
not be swung at all. nor provided with
any clappeT. The chimes OF New York
mostly sound from rigid frames, on which
the bells are firmly fixed. each with Its
hammer worked b. long bar, which is at
tached to its proper lever in the ringing
case below In this way the iarring Of the
oscillation is avoided, and much larger
bells can be used without danger. More
over, the ringing case is labor saving de-
vice by which one man is enabled TO do
the work of man. and do it with more
precision than, rs rule. they could do It.
The ma gnitude of the difficulties over
come by this modern method of ringing
may be readily seen In the light Ct the
fact that an allowance Of eight bells is
now regarded as rather short for a befry.
II is common for modern New York
church TO be provided with bells ,orre-
spending 10 the eight tones Of one key and
two supplementary tones-a fiat seventh
and another tone above the eighth. This
is the case with Grace Church. Grace
Chapel, Old Trinity. the new Holy Trinity,
al Second Avenue and 1921 Street; St
Michael's, in Amsterdam Avenue and st.
Johns 0tnown as the old Vanderbilt
Church, al Clifton. Staten Island. If
the elder method were still in use each
of these churches would need the services
Of ten trained ringers, each ringer skill
ful enough To ring in his proper tone pre-
cisely at the right moment. This is bare
~ possible in those Of the old English
parish churches where swinging Is still
practiced. The ringers there are notori-
ously proud OF their skill at bob MAJORS
! double bob majors the famous Joy
bell'' chimes. and all the immenorial
| repertoire; IT would be almost hopeless
| task to train them TO the performance OF
| the hymn tunes which are in vogue here.
| Bob majors" it may be explained IN
passing, are arrangements of the tones OF
! half an octave in this order: First sec
| ond. third fourth; second. first. second.
third; third, second first second: fourth
third second first on. With an
intelligent ringer at the case there would
be no difficulty about having any OF these
combinations.
Ii Is possible, however. TO carry the
spirit OF moderniZation too far in church
chimes For instance. the experiments
made in England with what are called
tubular hells''-metal tubes which. II was
I