The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-23
THE BELLS OF BOW.
LondOn's Legendary Chimes of st.
Mary's, Cheapside, Are Being Re-
paired and RehOused.
From the London Telegraph.


paired and Rehoused.
From the London Telegraph.
Up in the steeple of st. Mary-le- Bow
the bell-founders are at work upon the
legendary chimes which have kept time
with the music of humanity since
London become famous among the
cities of the earth. For more than
twenty generations they have COM
mented like a Greek chorus upon all
the drama of life and fate packed
within the walls of the old capital or
acted in the modern arena that con-
centrates in it's Seething existence of
eVeryday-mOre intense and innumer-
able contrasts of fortune than any
other environment of the world.
Turn again, Wilmington, thrice Lord
Mayor of London'-what child does not
know that it was the faraway rhythm
of Bow bells which spoke sooth to the
ear of the poor apprentice in doublet
and hose, recalled him within the gates
of the picturesque medieval city, with
its pitched roofs and gables, and made
him the civic ancestor of Sir Joseph
Dimsdale? There is no single episode
in English folk-tales more profoundly
characteristic of the spirit of the ma
ton, or more expressive of the unique
pace WHICH Tie ly plCdI VI
Cheapside has always held in popular
imagination. Westminster and st.
Pauls have been the shrines of the
realm associated with all the pompS
and vicissitudes of the state. But ST.
Mary-le- Bow alone has been regarded
as the symbol associated with the Joy
and grief the mirth and care of pri-
vate men. The lives of centuries Of
citizens have been accompanied by the
!. l. 90 . 70,
bells. They have rung the generations
into being. They have rung them
away. They have been glad for births
and weddings. They have been mourn
full for deaths and partings. And ever
they have seemed like the disciples to
speak to every man after his own
tongue. In a word. the City and Bow
bells have triumphed and have sad
dened" together, and the changes in
the steeple have made equal measure
with the changes of life.
OutwardlY there is no sign that the
famous belfry is undergoing repairs.
The tide of traffic pours as ever like
a cataract through Cheapside. The
familiar clock projects above the
street Over the great doorway the
bell founders, indeed, have hung out
their sign. 1t is little noticed by the
crowd whose vision is either level and
alert with the glance of hurrying vigil
lance, or who look downward as they
go like Mulciber meditating gain.
There is no time in the city for men
to rest at, gaze or to indulge the rev.
cries of contemplation by standing
with uplifted eye to follow the out
lines of any "spire whose silent finger
points to heaven" Yet the belfry of
Bow is Wren's masterpiece, and upon
bright summer Sundays, when Cheap
side is flooded with sunlight, but
otherwise as silent and deserted as
the tomb any man who has preserved
some little wellspring of poetic senti-
ment amid all the din and dust of
practical existence could enjoy few
more surprising and interesting ex-
periences than that of paying visit
of pure love to the altered scene of
daily activities. The controversy as
TO whether London is or is not beau
tiful is one that will always remain
omen. II will continue to be decided
in opposite sense according to indi-
vidual experience or taste. But what
there is no doubt about whatever Is
that London is full of beauties In an
almost infinite number or the aspects
Of IT'S vast being. None among them
all is more exquisite of its kind than
the belfrv which scars with airy and
delicious grace above the long prohle
~ Cheapside To say that Bow steeple
is Wren's highest flight OF clear ana
delicate invention Is 20 say that II -
one Of the delights Of all architecture.
Study II i'm the right atmosphere ana
Won will understand a. once why h
bos been described by competent Oh
servers as the finest Renaissance cam
nanile Ia the whole world. in al MS
sermons in stone Wren's most accom-
niehed ara b. that u leading the signt
insensibly from the massive lp9rt
lines. chat present rather aisnineqq
harmony than abrupt contrast VIII
fbs surrounding scenes ~ "ofs-s -Hss
ne 10 the ethereal development" ~
~ upper structure #hieh th" f"F