The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-07-11
CNew Yor!, Press.)

There is Il legend that in the olden
time an emperor of Japan desired for
his largest temple a bell of one and
power unequaled in all the world. He
called a bellmaker and, in the fashion
of oriental autocrats, he made the
condition that if the bell failed in his
requirements the life of the artisan
would be the forfeit. This condition
was overheard in terror by the bell
makers maiden daughter. During a
sleepless night Il god appeared to the
daughter, with the statement that the
blood of II virgin mingled with the
metal would most certainly produce a
matchlcss bell. The next day as the
metal was about to be poured into the
mold the daughter lcapcd into the
molten has thus mingling her blood
| with the metal. The resultant bell was
of f~ar-reaching tone and of a sweetness
never before realized, and it greatly
pleased the emperor. of course.
1t is said the bells as now used In
churches were the invention of Paulus,
Bishop of Nola, in Campania, some
time in the fourth century. Up to
that time the monks We're summoned
to devotion by rapping on their doors
With Il hammer. In the fourteenth
century bells Very largely took the
place of clocks. the hours of the day
and night being divided and the poo
pie notified thereof by the striking OF
the hour on the bell. Bells have not
always been round, despits their shape
today. The Oldest bells often were of
"quadrangular form, made of thin
plates hammer and riveted together.
In Switzerland there is still preserved
at the monastery of st. Gall the four
sided bell Of the Irish missionary of
that name, who lived in the seventh
century.
Perhaps the most famous bell in the
world is the first great bell in Moscow,
now standing in a square in that city,
and so large hat it is used as a chap
ell. This bell was east in 1873. but
was in the earth for more than 100
years. being raised in 1886 by the En-
peror Nicholas. 1t is nearly twenty
feet high. has n circumference of six
tN. feet, is We feet thick and weighs
almost 200 tons. The second Moscow
bell, believed to be the largest bell in
the world actually in use, weighs 12S
tons.
Another very large bell is in the
grounds of an old temple in Osaka,
Japan. This one was cast in 1908 to
perpetuate the memory of a certain
Prince Shotuka, who lived nearly l.
300 years ago. 1t is formed largely
from contributions of all sorts by pious
persons throughout the country, in its
makeup being included the frames of
no less than 100000 ancient copper
mirrors. The great Shotuka bell is &c
feet high, As feet in circumference,
liz feet in diameter. one foot seven
inches thick, weighing ia tons. Still
another large bell hangs in the Budd-
hist monastery neal Canton. 1t is Is
feet i'll height n As feet in circum-
ference. being cast in solid bronze.
This is one of the eight monster bells
cast by command OF the Emperor
fung Lo, about A. D. 400. 1t is said
to have cost the lives of eight men,
who were killed in the process of cast
ing. The entire outside Is covered
with inscriptions in embossed Chinese
characters about half an inch in
length. covering even the top piece
from which it swings. the total num-
Der of letters being $4,000. The larg-
est bell in England is Big Ben of West