The bells have arrived

"Have you seen the bells?" seemed to be the question of the day on Monday morning.

As I turned onto the street that borders the front of the campus building where I work, I had to stop while several semi-trucks with flatbed trailers backed from the main street to the side street on the south end of the building.

As I sat in the car and waited, I was thrilled to see that the content of each truckload was the bells for the McFarland Memorial Bell Tower that is presently under construction in the south quad, just to the edge of our college complex. One truck hauled a huge bell, larger in size than a car. All of the other truck beds were filled with beautiful bells of various sizes.

I had been admiring the construction of the bell tower since the summer and would take note of its progress each day on my lunchtime walk. I noticed last week that they had begun to lay the brick onto its concrete base.

There is of course a more famous bell tower on campus in that of the historic Altgeld Hall, which was completed in 1897. I fondly remember when I first started work on this campus, a friend took me on a tour of Altgeld Hall on a lunch hour, to the infamous bell tower which contains 15 bronze bells that weigh a total of seven and a half tons. The ringing of the chimes on the quarter and hour is controlled automatically, however the noontime concerts are performed by hand.

The Performing Room is seven stories high and contains a practice keyboard and playing keyboard. The playing keyboard is 7 feet wide, and the cables running from the wooden levers controls the bells and a Chimesmaster performs regular daily concerts from 12:50 - 1:00 p.m. Special concerts are also performed on a number of occasions throughout the school year. It's quite a wondrous visit to Altgeld and we were even able to climb up further into the actual open bell portion at the top of the tower, which felt dangerously exhilarating, and view the bells close up with the campus far below.

There is an oft heated debate about the conversion to automated chime systems, and I can surely agree that the original performance art should still be preserved. Yet, I admire Carillons of all types and am happy to see this latest addition to our beautiful campus.

Something about bells is very intriguing to me and apparently to others as well, gathered by the interest I encountered on Monday's lunchtime walk. I wished that I had brought my camera so that I could have photographed the bells while they were still on the trucks or on the ground of the construction site. But alas, the construction crew moved quickly, despite a day of rain, and I was only able to snap two photos of the tower before the bell installation had begun.

In researching the topic of bells, I found that during medieval times, they were used as a way of notifying people of fires and the attack of war. The use of bells in Churches dates back to the fifth century, when Saint Paulinus, the Bishop of Nola, introduced them as a means to summon the monks to worship. It is also noted that ringing the bells in the church towers, also gave notice to those unable to attend Mass that something divine and miraculous was taking place inside of the church building.

The McFarland Bell Tower is the result of a $1.5 million dollar donation from Richard McFarland, an alumnus of the College of Agriculture, in honor of his beloved, late wife, Sally. He also donated significant money to other projects and scholarships. Originally Sally hoped to build a new Presbyterian chapel on campus, but the plans fell through and she passed away in 2003 to Ovarian Cancer, shortly after the plans for the tower began. The tower's 49 bells were cast in the Netherlands. While the 500 programmed songs will be played by computer chips, the bells can also be played by hand via keyboard.

To me, the sound of bells will always be associated with the call to worship that I was accustomed to as a child, growing up in the Catholic faith. It's a joyful sound that the Lord himself called us to make on this earth.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Psalm 100:1 (KJV)

At the same time, it's a reverent sound that seems to say "Take notice!" For centuries, bells have been rung to announce both good and bad news.

There are a lot of cheaply-made products in the world we live in today - knockoffs of the real thing. Craftsmanship often seems like a lost skill. So many things are commonplace. Perhaps most of all that's why the delivery of the bells brought a thrill to some who took the time to notice.

It's not a mute occurrence to see something that has been carefully created with the skill of an artisan. Much in the same way, each of us was carefully created by the great Artisan, the very hand of God.

If only we'd live our lives in such a way that says "Take notice, there's something special here!" and then give credit to the one who made our life possible in the first place.

Today, amidst a small crowd of spectators, the 30,000 pound roof was lifted onto the top of the tower. The carillon will last for generations; unlike us, who have but a limited amount of time to chime and shine like the bells at the top of a tower.

Towering over the campus


©by Linda M. Kelley, 2008