THE BELLS OF PERUGIA

Hokitika Guardian, 14 August 1923, Page 1

THE BELLS OF PERUGIA

AND THEIR MUSIC Abliy it is that the sound ol hells so seldom suggests cbecri Illness f 1 liavi listened to the melancholy loveliness of English village hells at evening, and to Ihe aery earilious that float above tb( cities in LI,-aiders. I have quivered to the throbbing boom of temiile gong: in Central Java mill in ;i London suburb wakened from sleep to cur-' ■■ , luireli bell v. lmse i hingeni insiston.-.' suggested mil king so lllUeii as Ibe 1111 timely activities of a bmlerworks. ]>i' ! for insouciant, even rollicking gaiety the bells of Perugia must surely be unique. The hells of Perugia I W!i; tiie very words have a Ivrieal ring. Perugia is in Italy—an old brown citv perched on a lull-tot), and with ; historv of grim romance behind it. v. liieh few eit ies can equal. An atmos pliere of violence and di.om hangs ovio ir Witches haunt its eross-voads, anc ghosts lurk unseen in the dusk of it.i averii'Uis :dlev>. A passing bell ahum (i ;,e feels, should utter its mournin' knell in such a place. It was as I was dressing, the til'smorning of my arrival, that I middeitU heard them. The ordinary church he! lms a prnvo ami moasuivt! sonwi. Btr t'a'se b"ll i of Perugia danced like Davit before the Ark. There were two o' them, and they tripped it leat.y lien and there, keening p'wiert. time - sing ing marrilv. as il were, v.iih the seeeecstasy of their message. I he\ bulml. with ’melodious mirth. A tabor am pipe could not. have been more P.vmish inf'vtinus. . Those two bells rang with rhythnin lilt, that set the pulses dancing am the font tapping on the floor. ”,,mgdoiig. dingdong. ding-do,ig-a-dmg-dong. ( |i ug-doiig. lilng-ilong.-a-diug-doiig. The" last note was a dee], base, and i ‘ uuexpeolednes.s made one augli, iU thnu.di at an absurd joke I hey PQ.v--,ml prestissimo con fuoeo : they p-ositn eiv runnel, they appeared to be tnim U) outran f-racli otlmr lifc° c lulmvn a. !.,v Never were the faithful more bl it'll el v bidden to exult. Never was c "I'kine care more light-henrtei 1\ sen parking, nor “griping Ends am ‘doleful dumps” more expeil.tioti. I. soothed h.v music’s "silver sound. Lilting, laughing, dancing, the « - lo.lv of the la'lls followed me in mag,nation .as 1 wandered i.mumdv abm, the , itv A lahvnnth ot gum and fu - me streets, streets where the sun seldom penetrates, and with Grange names — the Street o Silom-e. - street of the Mom:, the Street of he Witches- wrapped me about a ll I h , cold shadows of the past l a arc. gloomy ns prisons peered < - n " n 'j * through their iron eyelashes ; U stmu I;, which I trod had been soaked aga, and again with blood. 1 ivai ' l ' l ' ’ l ”' ambition had grappled h. r. ft« - tiirics for the prize, wluh t - -• Time bided his chance to st-e.il U ' u,n their exhausted hands. The huge walks and ptev;U <•> •• nncient nt> had , ..-inns tramping i'A° dust 1 •’ frri..n. , «f l-g""',;. N ‘ before the lory ol ' I't- 11 - „ had watched the middle ages pass , n flame of lighting, and the ra ‘!'‘ l ’^ { the Renaissance pale and expt.c ■* the lurid tires of flic Tnf|Uisit:on. A«'" o.tlv the stones remained: the in on who raised them the somt in which thej wrought, were equally forgotten. \nd. like the swaying wild flowfL that sprout in the chinks of the nnght northern gate that has seen so much and changed so little m two thousand vears. there has sprung from the agelong tragedy of Perugia a little lilting song—the song of the bells.