X91'-e BELLS OF CORNELL Edited by A.W. SMITH '78 .• .. ' - _,. J I -~ --?:~.,,~ I - • J ' • I· • . f.: .~- (~ , . • , I 1 '" ' I ' ~ q I .J ~ ' •. ',:°'1!, ,-~f :1 .:, I I~ I I THE BELLS OF CORNELL ' ... ' I II' .,J .,, f I 1, ~ '••j . '.' I [r . \ !· I \ f T"' ... I ' '...\ 'I IIi" .i°, .. J '4 ., ! ... ~'•,I t - Jennie McG raw Who Gave the Pirsr C hime -- - .....-- THE BELLS of CORNELL ··Through the Cascadilla dell, 'Neath the arches of Cornell, Float the melody and music of the bells." BDITRD BY ALllllRT \V . S M ITH , '78 .. • 11,~, • t .. '. -~ . ., . .... ' --- ---·-- ... ) TffB CAYUOA PRBSS JTJJACA, N EW YORK Gratefully Dedicated to the Memory of JENNIE McGRAW FISKE Whose Gift of Dells has stirred the emotions of thousands of Cornellians through sixty years of joy and sorrow and achievement I I I I I I \I \ l ,\ \\- -~•~• .. ·l • ~ I - CONTENTS How This Book Came to De Vll Chimes . l The Original Chime 3 Presentation . 7 Additions to the Chimes 13 Description of the Bells 15 Playing Development 6 Early Chimemasters The Bells in Verse The Chimes The Hill The Fount of Youth The End of the Morning Session While Far Away The Chime Master Evening Song Cornell Hymn Bells Magic . Chime Masters of Cornell University Vll '' -~ --- · _ .. __ •.~ ILLUSTRATIONS The Library Tower, a steel engraving Cover A portrait of Miss Jennie McGraw, donor of the original chime . frontispiece The Bells in the Tower . facing p. 30 lX ., . •.j",J_ L. ..: .... HOW THIS BOOK CAME TO BE N THE summer of 1928 it was decided that I the Cornell Chimes should have two more bells, and that a modern playing stand should replace the antiquated one. This work was done in the quiet interval between summer school and the fall term. The new bells added the key of A to the player's range and made new harmonies possible; the new playing stand reduced the labor of the chime master and in­ creased his power of expression. J The cost of these improvements was borne by friends of Cornell intimately connected with the family of Jennie McGraw Fiske. One half was given by Mr. E. T. Turner '83, and the other half came from relatives through the enthusiasm of Mrs. Anna Gauntlett Whitcomb. A surplus above the needed amount was turned over to the University and has been used to help in issuing this book, in the hope of reawakening memories and emotions of some of those who for a time had listened with swelling hearts to the Bells of Cornell. X l CHIMES y oNG ago at the casting of a bell, people L dropped gold and silver ornaments and coins into the melting pot in order that the voice of the bell might be sweeter because of the sacrifice. Today, the bell founder has learned to com­ bine copper and tin that have lain silent under­ ground throughout the ages, and from the molten mixture to cast bells that have voices attuned to the joys and sorrows of human life : the joyous wedding pealing, the solemn tolling of sorrow, the appalling announcement of danger, the call to prayer and praise, the morn­ ing call to labor and the evening bell that sets the worker free, the peremptory ringing that .. hurries unwilling feet to school, and the chiming of happy holidays. One who has lived for a time in sight of Cayuga Lake and its valley and hills can never forget them. It is here, through the changing seasons of storm and sunshine, that the lives of those who listen are influenced by the Bells of I _2. _ ___T_ H.....:.E=--=.BE= L=L=S=--O=-=--F ...:C:..::O:..:R=N.:.::.E=.L_L___ _ Cornell ringing forth clearly at morning, chiming at midday with the life of the Univer­ sity at its flood, }?laying gentle tunes at even­ tide, pealing exultant at times of victory, caroling on Christmas eve, and ringing in the New Year. This music of the bells becomes~ part of the emotional memory of Cornellians; and when they return, the first sound of the bells brings back unforgotten days . ) ~.~ I• • I - - - - - THE ORIGINAL CHIME (From The Cornell Chime, a brief history of the bells by ANDREW DrcKsoN WHITE, written for their rededication, October 1908) AMID all the doubts and worries of t~e ea~ly ..fl..days of Cornell University nothing 10- spired more hope and cheer than the gift of ics chime. I t came most unexpectedly. On a pleas­ ant September morning there appeared in the public librar which Mr. Cornell had founded in Ithaca, Miss Jennie McGraw, who, finding President White at work among the newly arrived books temporarily stored there, asked him some kindly questions and was shown some of the volumes most likely to interest her. Next day word reached the President that she Was greatly pleased with what she had seen and wished to make to the new institution some gift showing this feeling. The result was a suggestion from him to the late Judge Finch that such a gift might take the form of a chime of bells, and the Judge entering into this idea fully, conveyed it to the young lady, who instantly accepted it. j 3 4 THE BELLS OF CORNELL One great difficulty stood in the way. Only about a fortnight remained before the formal opening of the University, at which a great concourse of men of light and learning from all parts of the union was to be present. But the order was at once given by. telegraph to the old Meneely firm at Watervliet, near Troy, and on the afternoon of the seventh of October, 1868, the bells, having been placed in a temporary tower on the site of the present library, were formally rung for the first time, addresses hav­ ing been made by Mr. Cornell, President White, and other distinguished men, including Profes­ sor Agassiz, and Mr. George William Curtis. The chime then consisted of nine bells bearing a gift inscription and the following passages selected from Tennyson· s "In Me­ moriam,·· cvi: Ring out the old, ring in the new, . R~ng out the false, ring in the tru~. Ring out the grief that saps the mmd, Ring in ~edr~ss t~ ali ma.oki~d. Ring out a slowly dying cause, . A!ld ancient forms of party st:ife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. THE ORIGINAL CHIME 5 Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spice; Ring in the love f truth and ri ht, Rio in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring ol.lt the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. One year later a tenth bell, weighing nearly five thousand pounds, was added by the Presi­ dent of the University in behalf of Mrs. Mary A. White, bearing, in addition to her name, inscriptions as follows : To tell of thy loving-kindness early in the morning And of thy truth in the night-season. Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men . I call as fly the irrevocable hours, Futile as air or strong as fate to make Your lives of sand or granite; awful powers, Even as men choose, they either give or take. The quatrain was written for the bell by James Russell Lowell who was at that time one of the non-resident professors of the University. 6 THE BELLS OF CORNELL The significance of his verse and of the selection from the psalms as derived from the fact that the bell was to become the cloc bell of the University on which the hours were to be struck. PRESENTATION OCTOBER 7 I 868 RANCIS M. FINCH was a friend and legal Fadviser of Ezra Cornell; later he was Justice of the Court of Appeals of New York State, and afterward was Dean of the Cornell Law .School. At the inauguration exercises of Cor­ nell University, October seventh 1868, Mr. Finch gave an address on behalf of Miss Jennie McGraw, presenting the original chime to the University. This notable address, in part and slightly revised, follows here : Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Board of Tru~tees: I am commissioned by Miss McGraw to present to you this chime of bells for the use of the University; and to ask your acceptance of the gift as a token of her interest in the enterprise which, today, so hopefully and bravely begins its work. She has watched its development, from the dawn of the grand purpose in the mind of its projector through clouds that often obscured, 7 .I 8 THE BELLS OF CORNELL and amid storms that sometimes assailed 1t, until now, as it emerges into sunlight and. be- ins its generous toil, she brings you this useful and beautiful gift, with as much pleasure in the giving as you, I am well assured., will feel in receiving it at her hands. The same energy and rapidity of execution which in a few brief years has given us a Uni­ versity, manned and equipped, and ready to begin its centuries of work, has enabled her to give you these bells today. In eighteen days they were moulded, cast, brought to these hills, and placed in their temporary abode, waiting to add their music to the general joy, and to weave into melody the hope and happi­ ness of the hour.