New-York tribune., 1901-01-27
PEALS OF BELLS.
MODERN METHODS OF RINGING MAKE
THE USE OF MORE AND LARGER
BELLS PRACTICABLE.

@ickedneSS in New-lOrk have received a con-
siderable reinforcement since so many of the
churches have followed the example set by Ola
Trinity IN 1916 of placing peal of bells in
their towers and using them. On the same
theory it may be inferred that New-York
City is better protected against high winds
ard lightning than ever before. The famous
old Latin rhyme of the bells which Longfellow
Introduces i'm his Golden Legend" asserts for
them the power of breaking the lightnings
and scattering the Winds and the most recent
conclusions of science lend some color to this
since it has been established as at least probable
that heavy vibrations of the air at consider
able height tend to dissipate storm clouds or
interfere with their accumulation. But it must
be admitted that the two Old Trnities. of Man
haitian and Brooklyn: st. AIMS, Brooklyn; St
Michaels. Amsterdam-ave., and, indeed, most
of the NewYork churches. were not provided
with bells from any such motives as these
What may be called the American church
chime movement appears TO have an almost en-
tirely aesthetic motive-the motive OF filling the
air with music it is filled with music in many
4 rural district of England on Sunday mornings
and Christmas Eve and Christmas morning
II is true that
The bells of Shandon
Sound grand
The pleasant waters of the River Lee,
which is in Ireland that Avignon is "the City OF
the Bells and that there are-Or were-the
chimes Of Normandy at Corneville But peals OF
great bells careful tuned to the of a scale,
are less common in Latin countries than ap-
Iarenty haphazard and discorlant aggregatons
OG small instruments producing sounds painfully
like those Of the empty tin cans which the boy
aood of New York kick in their sport about the
L, ,bblestones Of the streets.
In this affair of church prals New-York. hav-
INK begun somewhat late in history. is ambitious
t" profit 10y the advances in the art of bell
undng which had been made long before.
peal Of bells is technically speaking. "a group
made To- produce tones at recognized intervals.
Thtse tones not necessarily a series form
fag whole diapason u continuous part of it
For instance, the Westminster peal, excep
t.orally fine example of which forms the equip
ucnt of the campanilc Of -. Agncs's Chapel. at
Nirety-second-st. and Columbus ave. is made
H., Of only four tones the sixth fifth. fourth and
first Of major scale. This set of tones is nee
essary and sufficient for the Westminster
changes. chimes. which ring out the quarter
Of every hour from the clock Of the
houses of Parliament. Westminster: one
change for the first quarter. two for the
second. three for the third and four for
the fun hour. Besides its association with
ihe tower which the prayer Domino salvam
fac Reginam nostram Victorian" Uord. save
Queen Victoria) glitters in letters of gold
this peal is also notable having. according to
tradition. had its changes composed by Handel.
II borrowed by Westminster from the
Church of 81. Mary Cambridge The st. Agnes
bells claim the distinc. n-if they much
younger in years than their prototypes-of being
the largest Westminster peal. arranged for
swinging in the world the largest bell of the
four weighing about seven thousand pounds
with bell wheel nearly twelve feet in diameter.
To understand the force of the limitation Ear
ranged for swinging il is necessary to re-
member that. the changes on most peals of bells
in New-York being rung by apparatus of
levers and hammers, the Swinging" arrangement
is only useful for ringing two bells when
nism is called. is out of working order Until well
in the last century the separate bells in all
church peals were provided with hanging clap
pcrs and hung on straight beams or
trusses, and the ringers swung them by means
of ropes passing great wheels rigidly at
tached these beams. The straight beams
were later ON exchanged for yokeS curvng over
the top of the bell to afford greater
leverage and bring the oscillations sooner To the
point of ringing. But for all ordinary needs a
church bell nowadays need not be swung at all,
nor provided with any clapper. The chimes of
New-York mostly sound from rigid frames, on