The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-19
BELLS AND CHIMES
By Frederic ]. Elaakin.


 i The largest single ben In this eoun- try IS probably that of kontrsal ca- fhedrai. which wefxa1s zs,ss0 pounds. That in X the New York City Hali weighed 2a.ooo pounds, but was re- cast into i've smaller bells. Washing- ton. D. C.. possesses . chime of eleven bells in the tower of the Metropoiitan 4 E. Church. made famous through the interest taken sn their installation by Mrs. Grant. wife of President Grant. They were dedicated on Nov. so. 1871. New York has in addition to oi6 Trin- ity.s chimes{ carilions at st. Thomas ana at Grace Church. Troy. Albany, Montreal Toronto, and several other cities poesess excellent sets of bells,
 Russia has long claimed the largest bell In the world, though recent traveller in Burmah states he has seen 2 still larger one which can easily noid fifty people The Great Bell of Moscow was first cask in the reign of Boris Godunof and rscast in 1ss4. 1t then weighed. 1so tons, was ffty-four feet In circumferenoe, and had walls two feet in thickness. The value of the lhaterfai alone was placed at S1.76o,oo0. It fell in the great fire of 17o6 and was again cast in 17sa when the nobles in. their enthusiasm threw into the noulsis silver, gold and jew-
 
 to have caused an imperfection and, although the bell was never huns. . Ire in the shed in which 1t was housed found the flaw and great eleven-teu wedge fell out of the side, leaving am opentn gas large as Q church door. The great bell at Pekin is nearly sfif- teen feet high and weighs close to flfty-four tons. [
 The largest swinging bell is Great Paul. It took eight hours to melt the twenty tons of materisl of which it is composed, three furnaces being em- ployed, and 1t cost f3,oeo. Big Ben, ct Westminster, weighs between thir- teen and fourteen tons, The two Toms of Oxford and Lincoln, are saia to owe their names to. the sound they emit. Since the night of May 2s. 1884. Tom of Oxford has been toIied 10l times every evening, at i've minutes past g. the strokes representing the original number of seholarships. Pe- ter of York, the second largest bell in England, takes sixteen men to toll it. but 1t is struck with a mechanical hammer twelve times each day .at>noon and is also struck at midnight oe each December s1. It is being literally beaten to death. for beneath it lie scattered fragments loosened by the strokes of the heavy hammer which Is necessary to make 1t sound.
 The chime. or carillon, is native to Belgium. where Peter van den Chen put up a modest octave of bells at Louvain. Now large cariiions of for- ty bells and more are common there. and are heard for vast distances over the fiat fieids of The Netherlands as the bells of St. Peters reach the ear across the Campsgna from Rome. While the carillons of England do not compare in size with those of the con tinent, they are not less beautiful in tone. The bells of Christ Church, ox- ford. were greatly admired by Handel, and Queen Elizabeth once paid tribute to the beauty of those at St. Leonard, in Shoreditchs by stopping to listen to them as she returned to London. The largest peal in the English island Is probably that of St. Paui's. con- Bisting of twelve bells, Of which the tenor weighs sixty-four hundredweight. The English have filled each hamlet with peRls and every town with chimes until the island has been styled 'the ringing isle."
 Bell ringing Is an art. In England. where the bells are for the most part hung with rope and wheel, psaling and ringing the chimes is accomplished by a band of men each with a separate rope to pull. In Belgium the bells are rung by means of rough key boards claveeins resembling Ia .0p- pearance the bass pedals of an organ, the elappers of the bells being attach ed to the free end of each claver. In the older days bell ringers were a sort of minor clergy. As a class. they grew to have an unenviable reputa- ton, and BNnyAn, once bell ringer at Elstow. forsook the occupation for the good oS his soul. H,
 The curfew is said to still survive at several places in England. The use ful diurnal bell. at 8 in the morning. is for the most part replaced by the factory whistle. The passing bell" runK when poor folks were dying. has largely fallen into disuse. though still enjoined by . canon Of the English Church. "As merry as Q marriage bell" has passed into 6 proverb. but one Thomas Nash, in 1878, bequeathed $50 a year to the ringers of the Abbey Church, Bath, Ion condition of their ringing on the whole peal of bells with clappers muffied. various solemn and doleful changes on the I4th of May of each year. being the anniversary of my wedding day: and also on the anniver- sary of my deceased to ring 8 grand bob-major, and merry mirthful peals unmuffied. in joyful commemoration of my happy release from domestic ty- ranny and wretchedness.
 Copyright. 1908. by Frederic J.
 Haskin.)
 TomorrOw.--The Revival of Dancing.