The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-12-05

Rookh," aIludes to this thought in the lines:
 {. Bells as musical
 As those that on the golden shafted trees Of Eden shake in the eternal breeze"
 Of all Christendom, Russia has the pre- eminence for extraordinary bells. At one time in Moscow there were 17se huge bells. One of them was so large that the strength of "A men was required to ring it. and then they could pull only the clapper from side to side.
 The great bell of Moscow Is said to weigh 443,772 pounds. It is nearly 20 feet high and it's circumference is GA feet. It's metal is worth about S10G0,00O. It was never suspended. The reader may have seen pictures of it, as 1t has been pho tographed so often. The fracture running from the bottom to the top has been accounted for in two ways. It is said ing; others say that it was thus broken during the great fire in Moscow at the time of Napoleon's invasion of the city. A piece has been broken out of the bell, the fragment itself weighing Il tons. The aperture thus made has been used as 8 doorway Into the bell, whose interior has been converted into a chapel The feet thick. The numberless bells of Moscow are ringing and changing nearly all the time. especially on festival days of the Russian church.
 The largest bell in the world in actual use is also at Moscow. It weighs 12s tons.
 So numerous and so close together are these bells that as one Is rung others vibrate In subdued mur1nurs. just as one piano will respond if another nearby gives forth its tunes This fact is sim gulsrly illustrated by the great bell in the tower of St. Ivan. It is used only on very solemn occasions, but when it booms out upon the air there Is heard soft tremulous murmur of bells from 100 tow CTS, as if they shuddered and trembled at the horror of some tragedy told by the ponderous bell.
 George Eliot. who has little to say of bells in all that she has written, de- scribes the responding resonance of bells most beautifully in an original verse that precedes the thirty-first chapter of Mid dlemarch. It is too long to quote.
 In the cathedral tower at Antwerp. which is 400 feet high and was built in 1400. there are B bells, one of which is 21 feet in circumference. For many miles away these bells can be heard by the sailor, ringing out to him farewell and God bless you, or welcoming him home as his ship glides up the winding waters of the River Scheldt.
 The great bell at Vienna, in the tower of St. Stephens cathedral. weighs 40,0oO pounds. and the largest bell at Notre Dame, in Paris. weighs 5000 pounds
 There are many sweet-toned bells in Rome. but those at St Peters are not among them. These bells lack the deep. resonant sub-tones; they are loud and clamorous, and, to my ears, seemed 1Atched too high, having no deep vibrant substratum. This criticism may appear ridiculous to skilled musician. but after all, what are musical tones, so far az an individual is concerned except as they excite pleasurable sensations?
 In the city of London there are many fine bells. In the tower of St. Mary-Le Bow, on Fleet street. there hangs one of the most beautiful peal of bells in the world, the Bow bells. The reader may have heard their notes. for they are often reproduced in miniature and used in large hall clocks. It was the peal of Bow bells that Dick wilmington. when a lonely lad. heard, saying,
 Turn again. Wilmington.
 Thrice lord mayor of London town"
 One of the Bow bells was presented to the parish in the year 1520, to be rung at the close of the days work through out the city; but many years before that, indeed in 1472, a parishioner of old Bow church gave the parish two tenements whose income should be used to maintain the ringing of the bell every niEht at