South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-05-02

Newspaper dispatches state that
there is a plan afoot to have a
National Carlton in Washington d.
e, ~ a tribute 10 the soldier dead.
Contact with the men and women
OK Elanders has directed American
attention 20 enc kind OF music. vital
la the rational lives OF these people.
which cannot even be heard IN this
CountIy. sfys a bulletin From the
Ma. r.n! GeogrS phic society.
I'VE have welcomed Italian tenOrs,
Austrian vio'inists. Russian p.1usts,
and French and German orchestra
leaders. but we have evinced no in
terest IN the Belgian carillOnneur
nor have we, within the confines OF
our country. one mechanical instru-
Ticnt whereby we could demonstrate
his music.
VIII Watt Over Washington.
soon from a high tower vibrant
bells may watt over Washington at
twilight such strains as have for
centuries rung out from the towers
OF Belgium and Holland on days Of
national festiuty or crisis. and
which. in 1914. challenged the Ger
mans from such carillons as those
OF Louvain. Antwerp, BTuges, Nal
comes as the invaders approached
their gates.
- carlton is made up of a set
OF tower bells attuned 20 the inter-
walls OF the chromatic scale. usually
covering a range Of four Octaves. To
attain such q range the bell prOduC-
ing the lowest note must weigh sew
cral tons, while the smallest weighs
scarcely 20 pounds. The bells are
connected to a keyboard or TO a
Clockwork mechanism, which causes
their clappers % strike Producing
music from the bells requires great
skill and dexterity on the part Of the
bellmaster. for he must use his feet
for the larger bells, and the muscles
Of both his wrist and elbow are
brought into play IN producing the
tremolandO effect usually given. A
fine carlton IS not the result Of a
chance moulding Of metal, but it's
making Is as much an achievement
wrought BY a wise combination of
excellent material and deep thought
as a Stradivarius. Lovers Of carlton
music compare the tones TO those Of
a pianforto IN delicacy and TO an
organ In majesty. When touched by
the hand OF a master like Denyn.
the wizard OF Malines. the music
seems to come vertically from the
heavens and 20 settle in peace and
benedictiOn over the surrounding
country.
More German DeviItry.
The Germans melted down many
of the Belgian carillons during the
war for munitions, dealing their
enemies an even more cruel blow
in humilia ton than in the actual
physical III done 70 them Many
an old Flemish woman who had
spun all day. and many an old man
who had labored I'm fields whose
crops would be conhscated TO feed
German troops, felt loneliness and
n desOlating silence creep over them
at twilight without their beloved
bells.
so closely has this love OF bell
music grown into the national life OF
the people OF the low countries of
Europe that il has lured 90 their
shores poets and writer's from other
lands. LOngfellow and Robert Louis
Stevenson paid tributes 20 their sill
very tones. and. TO Victor HugO's
imaginative mind. the spirit of the
Carlton OF Mechlin became person
fled as a dancer scattering magic
notes on a sleeping world as she
crystal staircase. To the people who
live within the shadows OF these
towers. the bells possess n personal
rs we'll as an historic significance
for having been connected with some