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Show ARMY RINGS BELLS i PRODUCING CHIMES IS 3ACRED MEXICAN VOCATION, . . Two Thoutandj Men In Mexico City Alone Are Regularly Employed . No Need to Carry Timepiece Time-piece There. It takes a great army of men to keep the church bolls going In Mexico. 'It la estimated that In Moxlco City alone therere more, than 2,000 bell ringers. This is tho number regularly employed. em-ployed. On days of religious celebrations celebra-tions the number Is augmented, as the ringing of the bells must bo kept up almost constantly through tho day and night on such occasions. One of the most Btrlklng features of Mexican life to tho casual visitor Is the nolso df tho church bells. Every llttlo haralei and many of the ranches In tho country coun-try havo one or mora Catholic churches, and each Is equipped with one or more bell towers. Tho great cathedral which stands near tho National Na-tional Palace In Mexico City has 16 of these towers. In somo towns the constant ringing of the church bells Is prohibited by the local authorities. Tho sounding of tho hells Is permitted onco or twice every hour. Somo churches toll the quarter hours and others toll every five minutes. Most of-tho chUrchos In Mexico City toll the quarter, halt and hours. The profession of bell ringing Is looked on by the lower classes as being be-ing honorable and distinguished. The bell ringers are reverenced as being an adjunct of the clergy. The bell ringers themselves are usually proud of their work. In many cases this place in a church is handed down from father to son through generation after, generation. The towers of the large cathedral are spacious, and are frequently fitted with rooms which are occupied by the hell ringers and their families. Hero, far above the noise of the trafflo ef the streets below, the faithful tollers of the bells live a peaceful life, seemingly seem-ingly unmindful of the crashing noise which constantly, resounds about their very heads. They are away from tho other, noises of the city, but are In tho midst of the bell clang-lugs, which go on all through the days and nights. "How can you sleep, with all this noise about youT" was recently asked the wife of a bell ringer In one of the cathedral towers. "It Is not the noise of the bells that I mind," she replied. "I hear their ringing without knowing It, but it is the clanging or the street car gongs in the street below that disturbs my slumbers." All of the church bell ringing In Mexico Is done by hand. Some of the bells are of ponderous slzo and great wolght. To operate them requires the exercise of powerful muscles and much bodily strength. Tho use of clockwork or electrical machinery to operate the many bells in the great cathedral in Mexico City has been considered from time to time, but the preponderance or sentlmont of the church authorities has been against such an Innovation. The bell ringers are divided Into day and night shifts. They are required re-quired to toll 'the hours with precision. preci-sion. It is not necessary to carry a watch In Mexico unless one is traveling travel-ing in the country, out of Bound of the church bells. At any hour, day or night, a person can learn the time by listening to the tolling or the bells. Many of the bells which hang in the church towers of Moxlco were brought from Spain. in the early days of Spanish Span-ish rule". Some of them contain large amounts of precious metals, which give them a clear, rtoh tone. The bell ringers take great pride in their bells, and much care and attention are given to keeping them well burnished and their parts oiled and always in a state of good repair. |