Bells Their History, Legends, Making and Uses BY Satis N. Coleman File – 01 : Contents, Foreword Pages (i) to (x) Chapters I to IX Pages 1 to 95 This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing BELLS From a fourteen th ...century MS. King Daoi.d. playing bells BELLS THEIR HISTORY, LEGENDS MAKING, AND USES By SATIS N. COLEMAN The Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University With a Foreword by OTIS W. CALDWELL The Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University RAND MS:NALLY &. COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK Copyright, I928, by RAND MqNALLY & COMPANY All rights reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For much of the material in this book the author is in. debted to Mr. William Gorham Rice, author of several works on the carillon, and to Mr. H. B. Walters, whose book on The Church Bells of England afforded a text of great value. Acknowledgment is also due for courtesies shown by the following publishers: Houghton Mifflin Company (by permisssion of and by arrangement with) for poems by HenryW. Longfellow and two selections from Longfellow's Diary; Dodd, Mead & Company; the Grolier Society; by the Asia and Mentor magazines, and for a large num­ ber of photographs from the Crosby-Brown Collection of Musical Instruments furnished by the Metropolitan Museum of New York. For courtesies extended by Mrs. Marjorie Barstow Greenbie, Mrs. Eloise Roorbach, Mrs. De Witt Hutchings, Mr. Frank A. Miller, Mr. Frederick Rocke, Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Mr. Adolph Weinman, and many others, thanks are due. To the bell makers-Gillett & Johnston of Croydon, England; John Taylor & Co. Bell Foundry of Lough­ borough, England; Meneely Bell Company of Troy, New York; Bevin Bros. of East Hampton, Connecticut-all of whom have contributed to the making of this book, the author is most grateful. The author is especially indebted to the children of the Lincoln School, whose interest in bells gave stimulus to the research which has resulted in this book. "~ E RE •R Made in U. S. A. A-28 THE CONTENTS PAGE A Foreword Vll CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY I II. BELLS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 9 III. BELLS OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 22 IV. THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH BELLS 34 V. THE SACRED BELLS OF IRELAND 41 VI. CELTIC BELL LORE 47 VII. BELL MAKING 57 VIII. INSCRIPTIONS . 74 IX. THE BAPTISM OF BELLS 84 X. DIFFERENT USES OF CHURCH BELLS 96 XI. BELL HANGING . 116 XII. PEALS AND CHANGE RINGING. 125 XIII. RINGING SOCIETIES . 138 XIV. BELLS AS :MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: PLAYED BY HAND 149 XV. CLOCK BELLS 158 XVI. THE STORY OF BIG BEN 169 XVII. CHIMES 178 XVIII. CARILLONS IN GENERAL 187 XIX. IMPORTANT CARILLONS. 200 XX. DOCTOR BURNEY ON CARILLONS (1775). 215 XXI. THE BELLS OF RUSSIA 220 XXII. OTHER EUROPEAN BELLS . 231 XXIII. EUROPEAN BELL LEGENDS. 247 XXIV. THE BELLS OF AMERICA 268 XXV. CHINESE BELLS 294 v VI THE CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXVI. CHINA'S BIG BELLS AND THEIR LEGENDS 309 XXVII. THE BELLS OF JAPAN . 316 XXVIII. JAPANESE BELL LEGENDS 326 XXIX. THE BELLS OF INDIA 332 XXX. BURMESE BELLS 341 XXXI. BELLS AND BUDDHISM 351 XXXII. BELLS AND ARCHITECTURE 359 XXXIII. VARIOUS KINDS OF BELLS AND THEIR USES 377 XXXIV. THE MILLER BELL COLLECTION . 395 XXXV. THE POETRY OF BELLS 402 XXXVI. SCHOOL EXPERIMENTS IN BELL MAKING AND PLAYING 430 The Bibliography . 442 The Index . 449 A FOREWORD An abundance of good reading material adds much to the value of music in education. But the reading material rtltl.st be vital; it must really mean something to the reader. This idea is accepted, indeed is basic in the educational practices regarding history, science, and literature; and thosesubjects have an abundance of books which are fairly well graded to the different levels of advancement. ;M.1isie, like other fine arts, of necessity has been largely a «doing" subject, and because of that fact it has become much less of a "reading" subject than seems best. It has its wonderful literature, although inadequate perhaps <:ts a full record of its cultural development. Certainly lllor~ needs to be done toward the development of reading on music subjects for both school and home. It is hoped that this book about bells will prove interesting to adults as well as to pupils in schools. Bells is the outcome of studies made especially for the bert~fit of a group of pupils in the Lincoln School who were learning to play Swiss bells in their Creative Music periods. These pupils had already explored the field of other per­ cussion instruments; they had made drums, Pan pipes, and marimbas, and had played on them not only original twnes but folk songs and classic themes. Bells seemed also to challenge them to exploration. They wanted to make bells: to know who invented bells, how many kinds there are, how tuned, what they are used for, what countries have the best bells. These and other questions caused the author and the children who were guided by her to begin a genuine search for facts about bells. vii Vlll A FOREWORD At first there seemed to be little material available. Mr. William Rice's books about carillons, and Mary Tabor's small bell anthology were useful American books on the subject. The Old World offered several interest­ ing volumes, many of them gray with age and hidden away as if the world were to forget the old legends and superstitions and the many interesting facts about the bell, which has been a common messenger to all mankind. None of the printed material as found, however, was quite suitable for the needs. But many a musty old magazine of forgotten days yielded a rich contribution to the subject. From many divisions of the New York Public Library, from the Congressional Library' at Washington, and from foreign countries, materials were gathered. This material was organized into the thirty­ six divisions shown by the chapter headings. Then began the preparation of short accounts of famous bells, or of the folk lore or religious stories associated with certain bells and their uses. Most of this material was mimeographed for the children whose interest had initi­ ated the search. Adults who were interested in music also used and enjoyed the stories. The pupils made bells -wooden bells, clay bells, glass bells-and wrote stories and poems about bells. The search for authentic source materials was long and extended to far countries, and con­ tinued as the writing proceeded. Collections were made of drawings and photographs and separate descriptions of bells from all over the world, with the hope that the various types might be adequately represented. Effort has been made to include the world's famous bells, and to present, as fully as one volurne may, the kinds of bells and the uses which people have made of them. A FOREWORD IX This book is designed for the instruction and growing pleasure of those students and citizens who may be led tocatch a bit of the inexpressible glow of satisfaction which music has given to sensitive humans throughout the ages. 111~11 countries one may see the busy streets slow down and a measure of appreciation become evident when any of the famous bells begin to ring. The aim of this book is to carry to all a little of this widespread feeling for the music of bells. The language is universal and is inter­ preted through training in sensing of emotional values, not by learning technical language forms. It is hoped that Bells may make a contribution to America's growing acceptance of music as an essential to the best life of her people. OTIS W. CALDWELL Director of the Lincoln School BELLS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY In the Middle Ages there lived in a European monastery a friar whose life was one of cheerful devotion to his church. Every day-a dozen times ~ dg,y-he moved at the summons of a sweet-toned bell that hung in a tower within the monastery. It was a large bronze bell which had been cast mote than a hundred years before, on those very grounds, and a Latin inscription ran around the bell which Lorenz had one day climbed the tower to read: Cantabo laudes tuas Domini! ("I will sing tf1;ypraises, Lord"); and many times after that he said to himself, "How well the bell carries out its ownplanl" 'There were other bells, but this one seemed to $pealt most intimately to Lorenz. The first thing the friar heard, every morning in the year, was: "Arise, Lorenz! To prayers, Lorenz!" and as he listened further, he always thought he heard it sing the motto which it carried on its shoulders: "Cantabo laudes tuas Domini! " 1 The Latin of medieval times is not the perfect Latin of Cicero. Wherever medieval inscriptions are quoted in this book, divergences are retained as found. 2 BELLS After it had signaled to him many times during the day, its last ring seemed to say: "To rest, Lorenz, and sleep in peace! " The bell was to Lorenz a dear companion that roused him, inspired, cheered, encouraged, and soothed him; and he loved its clear and vibrant VOIce. Then there came the time- when the monastery was destroyed, and all the bells were taken away. The friars grieved over the loss of their home, their treasures and sacred relics; but Lorenz missed nothing so much as his bell. Morning after morn­ ing he awoke, unbidden, to miss anew the cheerful call to prayers; and night after night he found it hard to go to sleep without the bell's vibrant blessing.