The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-23

''The Chimes" is a move with a
purpose Dicken wrote 1t IN q
wrathfuI ft-"W rathfuI and red-hot,a
he says, and fierce TO finish In a SPIT,
bearing some affinity to truth ahu
mercy Which latter remark Is q
1rife cryptic-but then the whole OF
1.-The Chimes is more or less cryptic
The idea of Dickens was evidently TO
gIOrify the poor and "1aInba1 tie
rich.' When Dickens was III one OF
these moods 1t was useless TO cry out
10 him to spare 1.-The nobly born. how
ever high descended" to ''despise not
rank or wealth, however Splendid
For him at such times virtue dweit
onIy among the lOWly. and the rich in
lump were bad. He WrOtc The
Chimes amid the beauties and The soft
airs OF Genoa and made a 'ChriStfnas
Book Of it by introducing New Years
Day. For the purpose of the story
itself any day would have done, but
Dickens had to turn out a Christmas
book, SO he shaped "The Chimes 10
his necessities. TIT story was not as
popular as his other Christmas stories.
being scoIded and that the aT,ount Of
bitter medicine in the story was out OF
proportion 10 the amount of jam.
High up in the church tower hung
an old chime Of bells. Centuries ago
tltSS DtIIS Hdu bSeH I'd Wy
bishops; so many centuries ago that
the record of their baptism mad been
lost and no n knew their names
They had had their godmothers and
their g~odfathers these bellS-and
doubtless their silver mugs, too. Bpt
time had moved down their god
fathers and godmothers and Henry
VIII. had melted down their silver
mugs. And now they hung mu2less
n nameless in the church tower,
and TrOtty Week, the W~eaZenest ticket
porter who stood below near the
church door all day waiting for Gus
toners. declared hat when they rang
they talked to him.
His real name was Toby-and moth
ing except a special act Of Parliament
could make anything else of it ex-
cept Tobias-but people would call
was a short trot. Trotty might have
walked just as fast, but when he
trotted it pleased him to think he
was making terrific speed. Rob him
of his trot and Toby would have taken
to his bed and died. 1t despatched
him with mud in dirty weather.; it
cost him a world of trouble. But
that was one reason for his %cIinging
to it so tenaciOuSly. A weak, small,
spare old man, he was a very Hercules
in his own good intentions. He loved
to earn his money. He delighted to
! oIio IODy was 81 poOl lC
couldn't afford to part with a delight
that he was worth his salt. With
a small parcel in his hand which
he was to deliver for a shilling, or
perhaps eighteen pence, his courage,
always high, rose higher.
AS he trotted on he would call to
the fast postmen ahead of him to get
gu Of the way, devoutly believing that
IN the natural course of things he
must inevitably overtake them and u
them down. And he had perfect faith,
not often tested, that he was able to
carry anything mortal man could lift.
When he did not have a job and
seemed likely to nave none hat day
the chimes up in the steeple helped
keep his courage up by calling out to
him: Toby Week, Toby Week. JOB
coming soon, Toby, Toby Week, Toby
Week. job coming soon, Toby'-just
that way.
AS Toby stood under the church
tower he heard the chimes ring noon.
There is nothing" thought he, more
regular in its coming round than din
ner time-and nothing less regular
in its coming round than dinner.
[ wonder now If hat observation is
worth anything. But Lord, the pa
pers are full Of observations-so is
Parliament. Here's Last weeks paper
now" He took a very dirty one from
his pocket and holding it at arms
length said aloud: Full Of observa-
tons, full of observations. l like to
Tead the papers, but bless you, it goes
against my grain these days-it almost
~frightens me. | don't know what we
poor people are coming to- don't.
Lord sen We may be coming to some
thing better in the New Year Just
nigh. But I'm afraid we are a bad lot.
/ amt had much schooling myself.
and for the life of me I can't make
out whether we have any business
on the face Of the earth or not. Some
times l think we have and then again
! am afraid that we are just intruders.
l can bear up as we'll as another
better than most men. for I am as
strong as a lion and most men amt.
But supposing-just supposing-that
we amt got any right to a New Year
and really are intruding-"
Rather, father" said a pleasant
voice, and old Toby turned to see his