Bow Bells

Gay go up and gay go down To ring the bells of London town . . . "You owe me ten shillings!" Say the bells of St. Helen's. "When will you pay me?" Say the bells of Old Bailey. "When I shall grow rich?" Say the bells of Shot-editch. "Pray when will that be?" Say the bells of Stepnev. "I--DO--NOT--KNOW!" Says the great bell at Bow. -- Old jingle.

By tradition the true London Cockney was "horn within sound of Bow bells" ringing from the tower of St. Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside. The church's name came from the "bows" (arches) on which its first building was raised above London's swamps. In the 19th Century

Bow Church's great bell rang travelers into town at. nine every night, called Dick Whittington back to become Lord Mayor of London. Slowly its 17th Century Tower built by lamed Sir Christopher Wren gathered new bells. Slowly the twelve gathered green patinas of verdigris, cracked; the clappers rusted, the machinery clogged. The Tube under the church shook the steeple dangerously. In 1928. after 250 years, the Bow bells fell silent.

Last week Britain's U. S.-born Department Store Tycoon Harry Gordon Selfridge held the rope of the great tenor bell. Shocked by the lapse of a British legend, he had paid for the restoration of Bow bells. He handed the rope to white-ton-sured Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury. The oldsters of the Ancient Society of College Youths who traditionally ring the bells stood ready. Archbishop Lang leaned firmly on the bell-rope. Across Cheapside the great bell of Bow-said again."I--DO--NOT--KNOW!" The eleven smaller bells chimed in.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.