The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-04-30
HOLLANDS OLD BELLS.
Chimes That Have Delighted the Dutch
Burshers.

the Netherlands have so greatly loved
their bells and chimes that the archi
lecture of their belfries and steeples
shows marked traces of it, says the
Chicago News Most of these are OF
openwork design. so that the bells
might be heard in the widest circum
ference. Beautiful examples of this
ers of Utrecht and Delft. Several OF
the smaller towns possess even finer
specimens, either in their church spires
or in the belfries or watch towers
Like the we'll known belfry of Monni
kendam, these towers generally stood
in the principal squares. Their bells
We're tolled in case of danger to alarm
the burghers or to call them together
for important communications. Such
a tower is that of Bruges, of which
Longfellow sings:
In the market place of Bruges
Stands the belfry, old and brown,
Thrice destroyed and thrice rebuilded,
Still it 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 a 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 cast by the famous Hemony
in 1877 it was decreed that the tunes
should be changed every fortnight, or
at least once month, so fond were
the burghers Of their bells
In a time when clocks were by no
means general the church bells were
the timekeepers 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 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 tow
ers" it 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 poetical 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
1t was not deemed a sacrilege to bap-
tie 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 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 metal voices.
Each bell had its name, being often
called after the most popular local
saint. If chime or carlton were COM
posed of thirteen bells, as was often
the case, the heaviest and largest bell
was named Jesus" or Salvador"
while the others bore the names Of the
apostles.
The inscriptions on the bells are gen
orally in rhyme and made to read as If
the bell itself is telling its name and
the history of its making. Holland
still possesses many of these ancient
bells, notably In the province of Fries
land The earliest authenticated 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 seven
teenth century.
The reformation brought change
In the naming of the bells. The Roman
Catholic saints were forsaken, and on
iy Biblical or worldly names were al
lowed, while the inscriptions also
breathed other views, as can be seen
by comparing the bells cast in the sew
enteenth century with those of earlier
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 its inscription how
it burst In 1866 because it had too
loudly pealed out its joy at the victory
Of the Dutch feet over the English"