Milford chronicle., 1907-11-22

times of these are changed once or
| twice year, generally on New Years
day. This is so at The Hague and
| Utrecht Some places. however, are
not content with this and have the
( tunes changed oftener. 1t is on record
that In one town which had a fine
carlton east by the famous Hemony
in 1877 it was decreed that the tunes
should be changed every fortnight. or
at least once a month, so fond were
the burghers Of their bells.
In a time when clocks were by no
means general the church bells were
the timekcepers for the burghers. The
heavier bell struck the hours and the
lighter bell the half hours. If these
were chimes. they played tune at
noon and another at midnight while
before the stroke of the hour or divi-
sion of the hour a part of the tune
would be played. The consequence
was that there was always plenty of
music in tie air. and every one in town
would know what time it was In
Utrecht this custom is still continued,
and as there are several musical tow
ers" II is not place for nervous peo-
pie to live
What an important guild that of bell
founder must have been in the middle
ages can be seen by the many legends
attaching to the more famous names.
the imputation Of sorcery which at
tached to many and the secrets of the
art which were jealousy guarded by
each foundry. Many of these bell
founders achieved fame far beyond the
precincts Of their town or country and .
often executed commissions for foreign /
pOtentates in distant lands. The Ger
man poet Schiller gives in his poem
"Die Glocke." or The Bell" delight
fully pOeticdl description of the cast
ing of such "A bell setting up the mold.
the mixing Of the metal, the carving
Of the inscription and the baptism of
the sacred object, for bells were CON
sidered sacred in the middle ages. and
II was not deemed a sacrllege to bap-
tie them with all the rites of the
The bells TO the people then
were like voices from on high. Theirs
was noble mission-''to call the liv-
Ing and mourn the dead" to ring forth
the joy and the sorrow of the commu-
nifty and to celebrate the glory of the
Almighty with their meta voices.
Each bell had its name, being often
called after the most popular local |
saint IL chime or carlton were COM !
posed Of thirteen bells. as was often
he case. the heaviest and largest bell
Vas named Jesus" or "Salvator,"
While the others bore the names of the -
lpostles
The Inscriptions on the bells are gen
rally in rhyme and made to read as IL
he bell itself is telling its name and
he history Of its making. Holland
till possesses many of these ancient a
lells, notably in the province Of Fries a
and. The earliest authenticated bell
$ that of KrOmmenie. cast in 1896 by
iodolphus de Montigny. Most bells
low in existence were. however cast
a the fifteenth. sixteenth or seven
zenith century. d
The reformation brought a change c
n the naming of the bells. The Roman !
'atholic saints were forsaken and on {
r Biblical or worldly names were al
owed. while the inscriptions also
reathed other views. MS can he seen -
Y comparing the bells cast in the sew ,
nteenth century with those of earlier
ate. Those on the older bells have a
urcly religious significance. while the
ter ones refer to worldly subjects-as,
II instance. the famous bell at Ham.
-hich recounts i'm IFS inscription how
burst in 1906 because it had too {
udly pealed out IT'S joy at the victory
? the Dutch fleet over the English