Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-23
HOLLANDS OLD BELLS
CHIMES THAT HAVE DELIGHTED
DUTCH BURGHERs.
Steeples and Belfries Open So That
Music May Be Heard in the
Widest Circumference.
From the Chicago News.

from the chicago News.
From the earliest times the people of the
Netherlands have so greatly loved their
bells and chimes that the architecture of
their belfrtes and steeples shows marked
traces of it, Most of these are of OPEN
work design, so that the bells might be
heard In the widest circumference. Beauti-
full examples of this style can be seen in the
cathedral towers of Utrecht and Delft Sew
eral of the smaller towns possess even finer
specimens, either in their church spires or
in the belfries or watch towers. Like the
well-known belfry of Monnikendam, these
towers generally stood in the principal
squares. Their bells were tolled in case Of
danger, to alarm the burghers, or to call
them together for important communica-
tons. Such tower Is that of Bruges, of
which Longfellow sings:
In the market place of Bruges
STANDS the belfry, old and brown.
Il s,,;e :, DESTROYED and thrice rebuilded,
Still 1t watches Ger the town.
In Holland there is scarcely a place of
Importance that does not have one or more
towers with chimes. The tunes of these are
changed once or twice q year. generally on
New Year day. This is os 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 fine carlton cast 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.
Bells Told the Time.
In time when clocks were by no means
general the church bells were the time
keepers for the burghers. The heavier
bell struck the hours and the lighter bell
the half hours. If these were chimes they
a of aud
night, while before the stroke of the hour
or division of the hour part Of the tune
would be played. The consequence was
that there was always plenty Of music in
the 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 towers it Is not a place for
nervous people 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 attached 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 po-
poet Schiller gives in his poem, Die
Glocke," or THE Bell" a delightfully."- poet
ical description Of the casting of such a
bell, setting up the mold. the mixing Of
and the baptism Of the sacred object-for
bells were considered sacred in the middle
ages, and 1t was not deemed Sacrilege
to baptize them with all the rites of the
church. The bells to the people then were
like voices from on high. Theirs was a
noble mission-"to call the living and
mourn the dead" to ring forth the JOY and
the sorrow of the community and to cele-
brate the glory Of the Almighty with their
metal voices Each bell had its name be-
ing often called after the most popular
local saint II chime or carlton were
composed of thirteen bells, as was often
the case. the heaviest and largest bell was
others bore the names Of the apostles.
Inscriptions on Bells.
The inscriptions on the bells are generally
in rhyme, and made to read as II the bell
itself Is telling its name and the history Of
its making. Holland still possesses many
OF these ancient bells, notably in the prov
ince Of Friesland. The earliest authenti-
Gated bell Is that of krommenie. cast in
1896 by Rodolphus de Montigny. Most
bells now in existence were, however, cast
in the fifteenth, sixteenth or seventeenth
centuries
The reformation brought a change in the
naming OF the bells The Roman Catholic
saints were forsaken and only biblical or
worldly names were allowed, while the in
scriptions also hreathed other views. as
the seventeenth century with those Of ear
lier date. Those on the older bells have
a purely religious significance, while the
later ones refer to worldly subjects, as, for
instance, the famous bell at Ham, which
recounts in it's inscription how 1t burst in
1896 because 1t had too loudly pealed out
its JOY at the victory OF the Dutch fleet over
he E,u0iSh'