UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 00022093002 
 
 This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS 
 ONLY, and is subject to a fine of 25 CENTS a 
 day thereafter. It is DUE on the DAY indicated 
 below: 
 
 ^^i 1 6 1971 
 FEB 1 S 1972 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 Ob 2 3 1972 
 
 Form No. 1683 
 
 »^UN 2 5 1973 
 
 oc- 
 
 Vl 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/whychimesrangOalde 
 
TOYTHECtllMES 
 RANG 
 
 RAYMOND MACDONALD ALDEN 
 
 HAVO DUNtStR 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 Ttie DOB&S'MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, 1909 
 The Bobbs- Merrill Company 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 BRAUNWORTH & CO. 
 
 BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 
 
 BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
 

 
 rtW . A. 1 
 
 
 V V •/♦ -^ A: 5 *' ^'^^ /fc^\tuii ^/, ^ 
 
 
 -"" ■ -•• ^^^°«r* I 
 
 WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 
 3 
 
^^--\ 
 
 once, in a far- 
 away country 
 where few people 
 
 have ever traveled, a 
 
 wonderful church. It 
 
 stood on a high hill in the midst 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 ^ ^^ — of a great 
 
 city; and 
 every Sun- 
 d a y , as 
 ;^ S-^ '" well as on 
 
 sacred days like Christmas, thou- 
 sands of people climbed the hill to 
 its great archways, looking like 
 lines of ants all moving in the 
 same direction. . 
 
 "WTien you came to the building 
 itself, you found stone columns 
 and dark passages, and a grand 
 entrance leading to the main 
 room of the church« This room 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 was so long that one standing at 
 the doorway could scarcely see to 
 the other end, where the choir 
 1^ stood by the marble altar. In the 
 farthest corner was the organ; 
 and this organ was so loud, that 
 sometimes when it played, the 
 people for miles around would 
 close their shutters and prepare 
 for a great thunderstorm. Alto- 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 gether, no such church as this 
 was ever seen before, especial- 
 ly when it v/as lighted up 
 for some festival, and 
 crowded with people, 
 young and old. But the 
 strangest thing about the 
 v/hoie building was the 
 wonderful chime of bells. 
 At one corner of the 
 church was a great gray 
 tower, with ivy growing 
 over it as far up as one 
 could see. I say as 
 far as one could see, 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RAN(i 
 
 because the tower was quite great 
 enough to fit the great church, 
 and it rose so far into the sky that 
 it was only in very fair weather 
 that any one claimed to be able to 
 see the top. Even f hen one could 
 not be certain that it was in sight. 
 Up, and up, and up climbed the 
 stones and the ivy; and, as the 
 men who built the church had 
 
been dead for hundreds of years, 
 every one had forgotten how high 
 the tower was supposed to be. 
 
 Now all the people knew that at 
 the top of the tower was a chime 
 of Christmas bells. They had 
 hung there ever since the church 
 had been built, and were the most 
 beautiful bells in the world. Some 
 

 .^ -, '^< 
 
 » « » 
 
 
 thought it was because a great 
 musician had cast them and 
 arranged them in their place; 
 others said it was because of the 
 great height, which reached up 
 where the air was clearest and 
 purest: however that might be, 
 no one who had ever heard the 
 chimes denied that they were the 
 
sweetest in the 
 v/orld. Some 
 described them 
 as sounding 
 
Jft-'i 
 
 
 m 
 
 WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 like angels fLi up 
 in the sky; others, f^' 
 as sounding like 
 strange winds sing- 
 ing through the^'"^^ 
 trees. 
 
 But the fact was 
 that no one had 
 heard them for 
 years and years. 
 There was an old 
 man living not far 
 from the church, 
 who said that his 
 mother had spoken 
 
of hearing them when she was a 
 little girl, and he was the only- 
 one who was sure of as much as 
 that. They were Christmas 
 chimes, you see, and were not 
 meant to be played by men or on 
 common days. It was the custom 
 on Christmas Eve for all the 
 people to bring to the. church their 
 offerings to the Christ-child; and 
 when the greatest and best offer- 
 
ing was laid on the altar, there 
 used to come sounding through 
 the music of the choir the Christ- 
 mas chimes far up in the tower. 
 Some, said that the wind rang 
 them, and others that they were 
 so high that the angels could set 
 them swinging. But for many 
 long years they had never been 
 heard. It was said that people 
 had been growing less careful of 
 
their gifts fori; 
 the Christ-child, ' 
 and that no offer 
 ing was brought, 
 great enough t# 
 deserve the music 
 
 of the chimes. 
 Every Christmas 
 
 Eve the rich people 
 
 
i^OSfiS 
 
 
 still crowded 
 to the altar, 
 each one try- 
 ing to bring 
 some better 
 gift than 
 any other, 
 without giving 
 anything that 
 
 M 
 
 ^ii>^ 
 
 «^-. 
 
 ii 
 
t 
 
 WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 he wanted for himself, and the 
 church was crowded with those 
 who thought that perhaps the won- 
 derful bells might be heard again. , 
 But although the service was 
 
 splendid, and the offerings plenty, 
 only the roar of the wind could be 
 heard, far up in the stone tower. 
 Now, a number of miles from 
 the city, in a little country village, 
 where nothing could be seen of 
 the great church but glimpses of 
 
 V^ 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 the tower when the weather was 
 fine, lived a boy named Pedro, 
 and his little brother. They knew 
 very little about the Christmas 
 chimes, but they had heard of the 
 
 ^m^m 
 
 service in the church on Christ- 
 mas Eve, and had a secret plan, 
 v/hich they had often talked over 
 when by themselves, to go to see 
 the beautiful celebration. 
 
 ''Nobody can guess. Little 
 Brother," Pedro would say, ''all 
 
 /\ 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 the fine 
 things there 
 are to see i 
 and hear; 
 
 i 
 
 and I have even 
 
 /v. 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 heard it said that the Christ -child 
 sometimes comes down to bless 
 the service. What if we could see 
 ^ Him? 
 
 The day before Christmas was 
 bitterly cold, with a few lonely 
 snowflakes flying in the air, and a 
 hard white crust on the ground. 
 Sure enough, 
 Pedro and 
 Little Brother 
 were able to 
 slip quietly 
 away early in 
 the after- 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 noon; and although the walking 
 was hard in the frosty air, before 
 nightfall they had trudged so far, 
 hand in .. hand, that they 
 
 saw the 
 city just 
 
 lights of the big 
 ahead of '<:hem. 
 I Indeed, they 
 
 I 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 were about to enter one of the 
 great gates in the wall that sur- 
 rounded it, when they saw some- 
 thing dark on ^^^ the snow 
 near their HI path, and 
 stepped aside 
 at i^ 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 It was a poor 
 
 H^sms 
 
 woman, who had 
 
 H^^^^Hj 
 
 fallen just out- 
 
 ^^MB U^fU^'i'r^j^^^^^^KtM 
 
 side the city, too 
 
 ^^H| flfHH|^^^^^*^^^^« 
 
 sick and tired to 
 
 
 get in where she 
 
 
 might have found shelter. Tne soft 
 snow made of a drift a sort of 
 pillow for her, and she would soon 
 be so sound asleep, in the wintry 
 air, that no one could ever waken 
 her again. All this Pedro saw in a 
 moment, and he knelt down beside 
 her and tried to rouse her, even 
 tugging at her arm a little, as 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 though he would have tried to 
 carry her away. He turned her 
 face toward him, so that he could 
 rub some of the snow on it, and 
 when he had looked at her silent- 
 ly a moment he stood up again,,, 
 and said : 
 
 ''It's no use, Little Brother. 
 You will have to go on alone.'' 
 
Alone?'' cried Little Brother.^ 
 ''And you not see the Christmas 
 festival?'' 
 
 ''No," said Pedro, and he could 
 not keep back a bit of a choking 
 sound in his throat. "See this 
 poor woman. Her face looks like 
 the Madonna in the chapel 
 window, and she will freeze to 
 death if nobody cares for her. 
 Every one has gone to the church 
 
now, but when yon come back you 
 can bring some one to help her. I 
 will rub her to keep her from freez- 
 ing, and perhaps get her to eat 
 the bun that is left in my pocket." 
 
 ''But I can not bear to leave 
 you, and go on alone,'' said Littie 
 Brother. 
 
 ''Both of us need not miss the 
 service,'' said Pedro, "and it had 
 better be I than you. You can 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 easily find your way 
 to the church; and 
 you must see and 
 hear everything 
 twice, Little Brother— once for 
 you and once for me. I am sure 
 the Christ -child must know how I 
 should love to come with you and 
 worship Him ; and oh ! if you get 
 a chance, Little Brother, to slip up 
 to the altar without getting in any 
 one's way, take this 
 little silver piece of 
 mine, and lay it 
 down for my offer- 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 ing, when no one is 
 looking. Do not for- 
 get where you have 
 left me, and forgive 
 me for not going with you/^ 
 In this way he hurried Little 
 Brother off to the city, and 
 winked hard to keep back the 
 tears, as he heard the crunching 
 footsteps sounding farther and 
 farther away in the twilight. It 
 was pretty hard to 
 lose the music and 
 splendor of the 
 Christmas celebra- 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 tion that he had been planning for 
 so long, and spend the time 
 instead in that lonely place in the 
 snow. 
 
 The great 
 church was a 
 wonderful place 
 that night. Every 
 one said that it 
 had never looked so bright and 
 ^^beautiful before. "When the 
 "" organ played and the thousands 
 of people sang, the walls shook 
 with the sound, and little Pedro, 
 away outside the city wall, felt 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 ; the earth tremble around him. 
 
 At the close of the service came 
 
 i the procession with the offerings 
 
 to be laid on the 
 altar. Rich men 
 and great men 
 marched proudly 
 up to lay down 
 their gifts to the 
 Christ-child. Some brought 
 wonderful jewels, some baskets 
 of gold so heavy that they could 
 scarcely carry them down the 
 aisle. A great writer laid down 
 a book that he had been making 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 Zs# "•< 
 
 ••I 
 
 for years and years. 
 And last of all 
 walked the king of 
 the country, hoping 
 with all the rest to 
 win for himself the 
 chime of the Christ- 
 mas bells. There 
 went a great mur- 
 mur through the 
 church, as the people 
 saw the king take 
 from his head the 
 royal crown, all 
 set with precious 
 
WHY THE CHIM 
 
 stones, and lay it 
 gleaming on the 
 altar, as his offer- 
 ing to the holy 
 Child. ^'Surely/' 
 every one said, 'Ve 
 shall hear the bells 
 now, for nothing 
 like this has ever 
 happened before." 
 
 But still only the 
 cold old wind was 
 heard in the tower, 
 and the people shook 
 their heads; and 
 
 ES RANG 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 some of them said, as they had 
 before, that they never really 
 believed the story of the chimes, 
 and doubted if they ever rang 
 at all. 
 
 The procession was over^ and 
 the choir began the closing 
 
 Sudden- 
 1 y t h e 
 organist 
 stopped 
 p 1 a y- 
 ing as 
 though 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 he had been shot, 
 and every one 
 looked at the old 
 minister, who was 
 standing by the 
 altar, holding up his 
 hand for silence. 
 Not a sound could 
 be heard from any 
 one in the church, but as all 
 the people strained their ears to 
 listen, there came softly, but 
 distinctly, swinging through 
 the air, the sound of the chimes 
 in the tower. So far away, and 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 yet so clear the 
 music seemed — so 
 much sweeter were 
 the notes than any- 
 thing that had been 
 heard before, rising 
 and falling away up 
 there in the sky, 
 that the people in 
 the church sat for a moment as 
 still as though something held 
 each of them by the shoulders. 
 Then they all stood up together 
 and stared straight at the altar, 
 to see what great gift had 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 awakened the long- 
 silent bells. 
 
 But all that the 
 nearest of them 
 saw was the 
 childish figure of 
 Little Brother, 
 who had crept soft- 
 
WHY THE CHIMES RANG 
 
 ly down the 
 aisle when no 
 one was look- 
 ing, and had 
 laid Pedro's 
 little piece of 
 silver on the 
 altar. 
 
»n..^r 
 
e-