The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-05-26
THE CHIMES OF ST. PATRlck's

l
grand on the pleasant waters of the
River Lee have rival in the chimes
of St. Patrick's on Mission Street in
this city, according to Redfern Ma
son, the music critic of The Exam
iner, who climbed the high tower of
st. Patrick's and had the following
interview with Rev. Paul Anderson,
the hidden artist of the belfry, who
| filings the notes of sweet canticles far
and wide over the busy marts of trade
| in the downtown district of San Fran
| cisco.
There is a musician. in San Fran
| cisco who never sees his audience
| face to face. Yet he has probably
more listeners to his music and more
varied in social condition than even
had Ignace PadereWski or John Nc
| Cormack. His music room is an
eyrie perched high above the multi
tude, in the tower of st. Patricks
Church. He is the Rev. Paul A. An
derson and, while his repertory is
limited to tunes with a gamut of an
octave and a tone, within his range
he has command of a technique which
fancy no musician in the city can
rival
Father Anderson had no need to
seek any of the tricks of advertising
in order to become known. His art
stole upon the ear in moments of
recollection during the working day.
Men and women hear his melodies as
they pass along the street. In my
own den, eight flights up in "The
Examiner" building, l have been set
upon a train of quiet thoughts by such
an old-time ditty as "Aileen Aroon'
or the ''Lorelei' and | blessed the I'M
seen musician for his gift of sweet
song.
SO l clambered up into the belfry
and there found the good father work
ing at such clavier of levers and
parallel the ponderous keyboard of
the medieval organ. Stripped of his
coat, he was making two-part harmony
on the lovely hymn,
o Lord, | am not worthy
That Thou should st came to me
preliminary to the service of Benedic-
ton, which takes place at o'clock.
$50 you are the man who makes
music for all San Francisco?" l ex-
claimed.
| He laughed quietly-the laugh of a
young man caught in the doing of a
good deed and almost embarrassed by
the discovery. ........
We chatted about the bells and the
people who listen to them
L get word every now and then
Sometimes it is a clerk in an office, a
girl pausing in her work at the type
writer. Strangers coming into town
listen and are pleased. 1t is the old
tunes they love, you know, and that
is what l try to give them.
yes, l have heard you playing
Killarney and Lead, Kindly Light,
and The Last Rose . said
yes, and l shall add to the number
as time goes on, no doubt. How does
it sound? You know, l am SO engaged
with this noisy mechanism that |
cannot know how the music sounds"
How does it sound? 1t sounds like
an invitation to thoughts of. home
home in both an earthly and a
spiritual sense
Il must tell the PASTOR the priest
laughed; ''he says he listens to the
chimes by way of an act Of penance. =
1T was Mrs. Mary Haurihan who
donated the bells,' he continued.
"They cost $4,000 and it will please
her to know you think their music
touches peoples hearts"
| Neither Father Anderson nor Mrs.
Haurihan needs have any doubt on
that score. The music of ST. Patrick S
bells may pass unheard by many But
there is always some spirit on whom
its tones fall in accents of comfort
and benediction. In the stress of this
twentieth century life of ours it is
good to hear sounds which even the
most materialistic must recognize as
spiritual.
! Al song is a message and, if it is a
good song, it is the deliyerance Of a
sort of sonorous gospel, like the
Muezzin's call to prayer. There are
countries in the old world where that
/ gospel times the flight of. hours with
1 thoughts that are ever consoling and
n uplifting. Such a country was Belgium
:, before the blight of war came Long
fellow has told how he was moved by
/ / the bell music Of Bruges.. "Oh, those
chimes, those chimes!" he wrote
How deliciously they lull one to sleep
, the little bells, with their clear, liquid
notes like the voices of boys in the
choir, and the solemn voice of the
: great bell, like the voice of friar.''
Il Was it not the sound of Bow Bells
that recalled Dick Wilmington to Lon
don, as told in the rhyme:
!, Turn again, Wilmington,
: Thrice Lord Mayor of London?