SAY IT WITH BELLS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 90, 13 October 1934, Page 14

SAY IT WITH BELLS

Quaint ceremonies based on German folklore and folk songs have been started recently on the four express liners of the Hamburg-American Line in connection with the farewell dinner wliich is held at the end of each voyage. These last-night dinners on the Deutschland, New York, Hamburg, and Albert Ballin are replete with stories and song tales in which bells and chimes play an important part, says thi "New York Times." As a background for the festivities, called Glocken Abend —Night of the Chimes— :'the dining salon of the ship is decorated with art panels depicting folk songs known to every German. At one eoid a ship's stern is represented, while a backdrop shows a vessel at the moment of farewell.

Bells of all kinds are featured in each part of the ceremony. A crier goes the rounds clanging "Ye Dinner Belle" and crying "Oyezl Oyez! " The panels portray a coachman summoning a ferry to the meadow landing; the hermit's evening bell, calling his woodland companions to rest, and the schoolmaster's chime giving liberty to his restless charges.

Then there is, of course, "Die Shiffsglocke" (the ship's bell). As the dinner progresses, red-coated stewards set before each passenger a candle and a little bronze ship's bell, for snuffing. One passenger is always neglected, and ■when this prearranged omission is discovered the entire ship's company overwhelms him with attention as recompense and eventually he receives a great bell as a memento of the occasion.