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Show WHEN THE CHURCH BELLSJTOLL. Writing to a coast paper, a traveler from the east, inquires as to church bells, and says: "I am astonished to find that a custom cus-tom now obsolete in all large centers of the east should still be countenanced counten-anced here. 1 refer to the ringing of church bells, beginning at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the distressing tolling toll-ing of bells for funerals, of which there were recently three in one day. ! I need not dwell upon the depressing effect of the mournful toll toll with its sad suggestions upon the mind of suffering invalids in the immediate vi- icinlty. In ancient times these bells ' served a purpose in summoning the villagers to church, but, in this enlightened en-lightened age, what can be their ralson d'etre, vhen every man carries a watch?" The bells should not be done away I with, as the Eastern man suggests, as J there is a note of cheer as well as sad-denness sad-denness in their vibrant tones. They proclaim a place of worship and they divert the thoughts from the humdrum of life to the spiritual, but the tolling bell and the bell at an unusual hour could be silenced to good purpose. |