The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-10
WAR SILENCES FAMOUS BELLS OF OLD WORLD
Northern France, Chimes Par adise, Has Only Ruined
 BelfryS Now.

Paris, May 1O.-No Easter bells
 were heard this year from three hun dred or more Cathedral and church belfries in regions of France and Bel gium where bells and chimes have
 been in great honor since the 15th
 century.
 The >"Bourdon," the great eleven and a half ton bell Of the Rheims cathedral was silent last year, as well
 as the big bells of Albert, Soissons and Senlis and the lesser bells and chimes of two hundred more
 churches. The cathedral of Verdun joined them this year with several score of belfries in the zone of the
 French armies that have succumbed during the second year of war How many more have been silenced in the zone of the German armies in France and Belgium is unknown here; 1t IS known, however, that, in preparation
 for the battle of Verdun, the Germans demolished every .steeple, splre or tower that might have served as bear | ings for the French artillery in that region.
 1 The invaded regions of France may
 be properly termed the paradise of bells. There were no less than 40 ! fine ancient specimens of the most
 renowned founders work in the can ton of Bethel, in the department or l the Ardennes, alone. In the same de I partment the conton of Asfe1d had 1 3S and the canton of Chateau-Por- 1 cien 37. Other rare specimens were
 scattered all over French Flanders, 1 Artois and the departments of the l Nord and the Aisne.
 The most skillful bell founders Ewere born and trained. in the North 1 of France, including the celebrated ICaviIIier family whose founder, Rob
 ert, established himself at Noyon,
 where he cast the great bell of that ] TNnT T7n news from this masterpiece for more
 than eighteen months, nor of those of Laon cast by his son Philippe, l probably still intact.
 l Nearly all the ancient bells of the departments of the Aisne and the ! Somme were cast by the Cavilliers, while those of Champagne and LOT raine, of lesser importance but in l many cases of equal workmanship, were mostly the work of itinerant bell i founders who set out each spring to l exercise their art. They dug .ditches
 beside churches in which to do the i casting and the operation was the oc- casion of interesting and picturesque l ceremonies during which the faithful 1 sang the re Deum
 Not all the old bell masterpieces 1 that swung in belfries now collapsed were damaged or destroyed. Some were cracked, some melted in confla- grations while others had semi mir acu1o1s escapes like celebrated carved bell in the little chapel of
 Reuve The building was leveled by
 shell fire but the bell landed at the
 bottom of the b1efry without even a,
 scratch.
 A bell that was famous ih Belgium and that will never toll again was that
 of Ramscapelle, melted in, the fire
 that destroyed the church and now
 lying in a shapeless mass beside the
 entrance. The bells of Louvain are
 ali said to have melted also. As for
 those of Pervyse. Loo, Elverdinghe, and Ypres, asphyxiating gas that per
 meated the ruins where they lie has
 covered them with yellow coating.
 The, chimes of A1ost, also lost had
 the honor of being the oldest in exist
 ence before the war, dating from
 14S7 The chimes of Mecklin that in
 spiredN some celebrated lines of Vic
 tor Hugo and the most famous in Bel
 gium after those of Bruges, are said
 to exist noi more Those of Ghent,
 fourth in importance and coming af-
 ter the chimes of Antwerp. are in.
 tact, but the Belgian Army Courier relates this curious incident concern
 ing them The famous Roland"
 legendary in Belgium, with it's suite
 of A smaller bells, was rung by the
 Germans to celebrate an anniversary on January 27th, 1916. After a, few
 peaIs the voice of Roland failed; : the. bell had cracked from some cause still unknown; it is popularly attri-
 buted in Ghent to patriotic revolt against service for Germany.