Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-12

here. covered with the accumulated
dirt, it should occupy the chief place
of honor in this Hall Of independence.
It is to you what the Magma Charta
is to England. 1t is cracked, but 1t Is
an inspirations"
Oddly enough, but also logically, the
bell was cast by an Englishman,
Thomas A. Lester, in London, in 1852.
At that time it did not have the liberty
proclamation on 1t.
What school child does not know of
its ringing on the fourth day of July
l776, when it lived up to its motto and
it's peals jubilantly announced the
Declaration of independence!
1t chronicled the passing of the last
surviving signer of the Declaration.
In 1884 it performed the same duty
for Lafayette, and a year later it was
being tolled, for Chief Justice John
Marshall when the crack developed.
The Liberty Bell is small, weighing
only one ton. Just compare it's size
with the worlds biggest bells, as fol-
lows: "The Great Bell of Moscow"
222 tons; ST. Ivan's, Moscow, 62 tons;
| st. Paul's, London, 10 tons; big
Ben,", Westminster, Is tons, and St
Peters, Rome, 1S,60O pounds, or more
than. nine tons. Other large bells that
range in weight from II to 60 tons
may be seen at Peking, Vienna, Mon
treai, and at Olmutz, in Bohemia.
"The Great Bell of Moscow" Is 19
feet 8 inches high and has G rim cir
cumfcrence of 60 feet 8 inches. st.
Ivan's also of Moscow; has a circum-
ference of 40 feet 0 inches, but a
weight considerably less than one
third that of its prodigious neishbor.
The Bell Tower of the Kremlin in
Moscow contains "a of these musical
pieces. Two are made entirely of sill
Yer. This is perhaps the most i'm
pressive set of large bells in the world
today
Bishop Paulnus, of Mole, Cam
pagna, is thought to have been the first
man to use bell to summon con-
gregation to religious services. This
was about 400 A. D.
Bells had not come into general use
even as much. as two centuries after
they had been first employed in Cam
pagna. About 900 A. d, Pope John
IX decreed, or ordered, that bells
should be used in the churches under
his control
Though the custom of announcing
the time of worship by the sounding
Of bells began in the reign of Con-
stantine, or approximately then, the
English were the first TO employ them
widely for this purpose. Perhaps no
people love the metallic messengers, Of
veal and woe as they do; they seem
| to have a peculiar affection, vcnera-
ton that amounts almost to supersti-
ton, for bells.
According to. history, the rise of
Gothic architecture and the introduc-
ton of church bells very largely coin
cided. This style of architecture rro-
vidcd numerous towers and spires
which were suitable as supports for
bells; the low buildings Of the pre-
ceding period had offered no adequate
housing facilities.
When the Spaniards invaded Mex
leo and South America they intro
duced there the custom Of using bells
in places of worship.
The most musical bells in the whole
world are said to be those in the 'low
countries" of the Netherlands, and
Belgium. In these lands there are
A more carillons and chimes than of any
other type.
The cathedral at Utrecht in the
Netherlands houses carillons that
possess tones unusually sweet. Every
hour and half hour they are played
CaTillons that rank next in beauty OF
tone to those of Utrecht may he found
in the cathedral of Bruges, the an.
Cient town of Belgium.