A Contrast

Ding dong ding, ding dong ding! The tones followed us over the fields, ringing their message into every heart. The little bride looked at her husband; their glances met, and I knew that whenever in after years they heard a merry peal of bells they would come back in memory to the village church where God had joined them as man and wife.

A few days later I was present at a much more imposing wedding ceremony. Silks, satins, and diamonds, and an organ grandly sounding forth the wedding march. It was wonderfully majestic and very solemn; tears stood in many eyes, and involuntarily the thought of the great responsibilities so lightly undertaken by the two splendid young figures standing before the altar rose in the minds of the majority.

When we all filed out of the sacred edifice there were no merry marriage bells to disperse the feeling of solemnity, no happy peal to carry a message of joy into the hearts of the hearers.

We hoped the newly married pair would be happy, but we felt no confidence on the subject; not even the radiance depicted on their faces could eradicate the feeling of depression into which we had sunk, and I registered a vow that when women won the vote I would record my mark for no member of Parliament who would not bring in a Bill making marriage bells compulsory 1

The Message Of Wedding Bells

There is something wanting about a wedding celebrated with no accompanying peal of bells; it is almost as if the happy pair were starting their new life bereft of the good wishes of their friends, missing the message of love and joy which is borne by the bells over the country far and wide.

It is a beautiful old custom, and a thousand pities if in this matter-of-fact age it be let fall into abeyance.

From time immemorial bells have been used as signs and signals of joy and sorrow, or of warning in moments of danger.

From a remote antiquity cymbals and handbells were connected with religious ceremonies, and intimately associated with the services of the Christian Church.

So much so that, apparently from a spirit of opposition, the Mohammedans reject their use, and substitute for them the cry of the imaum, or priest, from the top of the mosques.

Every true marriage is an event of happiness in the celebration of which every suitable symbol of happiness should be employed, and wedding bells are among the most ancient of our institutions.

They have survived so many hundreds of years that it seems almost a minor national misfortune that they should now be almost relegated to the land of "once upon a time."

There is rather an uncanny story told about an old church in the North of England which possesses a very fine peal of bells.

Somewhat over a century ago a wedding was celebrated within its precincts, and as the happy couple were coming out of church and the marriage bells pealed joyously overhead, the young bride was stabbed to the heart by the cowardly hand of a discarded lover. The story goes that she fell while the joy bells rang on in mocking merriment, till the bell-ringers became aware of what had happened, and the sounds became "jangled out of tune and harsh." Then, after a moment's silence, one bell alone tolled out a solemn requiem, telling how gladness had been changed into sorrow.

A Ghostly Peal

They say that on every anniversary of its happening the bells are heard to ring a merry peal which suddenly changes into unmelodious discord, and then one bell alone records the tragedy.

The reverberations are never loud and clear, but always sound as if coming from a great distance; yet approach the church from north, south, east, or west, the direction whence come the sounds is always the same, that of the church tower where hang the same bells which were ringing when the life-blood of the young bride ran out upon the stones.

The present rector has tried many ways of "laying the ghost," or, failing that, of drowning its lamentations, but all have proved of no avail. He endeavoured to cover the tones of the "shadow bells" by the very real and lusty pealing of his own bell-ringers, but many people aver that above the din of the church bells was heard the distinct sounds of those other bells, faint and distant, but quite discernible and unmistakable.

Of course, this little article is chiefly concerned with the ringing of bells at weddings, but, apart from that, it is interesting to note with what little modifications ancient customs have been handed on to modern times.

In Egypt it is known that the feast of Osiris was announced by ringing bells. Aaron and other Jewish high priests wore golden bells attached to their vestments, the Greeks employed bells in camp and garrison, and the Romans announced the hours of bathing and of business by the "tintinnabulum."

Their use has been preserved from generation to generation. In olden times they were associated in various ways with the ancient ritual of the Church, and acquired a sacred character.

They were founded with religious ceremonies, and consecrated by a complete baptismal service; received names, had sponsors, were sprinkled with holy water, anointed, and finally covered with the white garment, or chrisom, as were baptised infants.

Bells bore pious inscriptions, indicative of the widespread belief in the mysterious virtue of their sound. They were believed to disperse storms and pestilence, drive away enemies, and extinguish fire, etc. All these traditions now are dead, only the sentiment, ashes of a departed faith, remains; yet, despite all our modern rationalism, wedding bells do seem to bring a message of joy and gladness, and form a fitting finish to the ceremony of marriage.

Wedding bells and Christmas bells! Perhaps when one has quite gone, the other will follow, and our "Merrie England" will be the poorer for the change.