Why The Chimes Rang

RAYMOND MC ALDEN





THERE was once in a faraway country where few people have ever

travelled, a wonderful church. It stood on a high hill in the midst of a

great city; and every Sunday, as well as on sacred days like Christmas,

thousands of people climbed the hill to its great archways, looking like

lines of ants all moving in the same direction.



When you came to the building itse f, you found stone columns and dark

passages, and a grand entrance leading to the main room of the church.

This room was so long that one standing at the doorway could scarcely

see to the other end, where the choir 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. Altogether, no such

church as this was ever seen before, especially when it was lighted up

for some festival, and crowded with people, young and old. But the

strangest thing about the whole 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,

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 then 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

world. Some described them as sounding like angels far up in the sky;

others as sounding like strange winds singing 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 offering was laid on the altar there used to come sounding through

the music of the choir the Christmas 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 for the Christ-Child, and that no offering was brought

great enough to deserve the music of the chimes.



Every Christmas Eve the rich people still crowded to the altar, each one

trying to bring some better gift than any other, without giving anything

that he wanted for himself, and the church was crowded with those who

thought that perhaps the wonderful 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 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 service in the church on Christmas Eve, and had a secret plan which

they had often talked over when by themselves, to go to see the

beautiful celebration.



"Nobody can guess, Little Brother," Pedro would say; "all the fine

things there are to see and hear; and I have even 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

afternoon; and although the walking was hard in the frosty air, before

nightfall they had trudged so far, hand in hand, that they saw the

lights of the big city just ahead of them. Indeed they were about to

enter one of the great gates in the wall that surrounded it, when they

saw something dark on the snow near their path, and stepped aside to

look at it.



It was a poor woman, who had fallen just outside the city, too sick and

tired to get in where she might have found shelter. The 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 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 silently 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 you come back you can

bring some one to help her. I will rub her to keep her from freezing,

and perhaps get her to eat the bun that is left in my pocket."



"But I cannot bear to leave you, and go on alone," said Little Brother.



"Both of us need not miss the service," said Pedro, "and it had better

be I than you. You can easily find your way to 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 offering, when no one is looking.

Do not forget 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 splendour of the Christmas celebration 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 the earth tremble

around him.



At the close of the service came 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 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 Christmas bells. There

went a great murmur through the church as the people saw the king take

from his head the royal crown, all set with precious stones, and lay it

gleaming on the altar, as his offering to the Holy Child. "Surely,"

every one said, "we 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 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 hymn. Suddenly

the organist stopped playing, 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 the sound of the chimes in the tower. So

far away, and yet so clear the music seemed--so much sweeter were the

notes than anything 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 awakened the long silent bells.



But all that the nearest of them saw was the childish figure of Little

Brother, who had crept softly down the aisle when no one was looking,

and had laid Pedro's little piece of silver on the altar.