The Belis Of Santa Maria Maggoiore

Anyone who has been in lióme ana lived on the Esquilino hill inust have been struck by the beautifully toueil bells oí Santa "Maria Maggiore, the Iargest and finest church of the district. According to the legend, it was built in I the year 354, on the spot whcrc a miraculous shower of snow feil during the month of August- a most unlikely time for snow to fall anywhere, and most of all in Kome, wtiere tne neai ia irhuuwly unbearable at that time. Ihcre is ño end to the freaks of the lelgend, or to the siraplicity of credulous people who take legend for history. Tnis legendary fall of snow is actually commeinorated in the church at the present day by a service in the course of whieh white rose leaves are showered down from the roof of a side chapel to imítate falling snow. To return to the bells. The stranger on the Esquiline must not only have been struek by their. beauty when they rung at the usual hours during the day.but he must have been also surpnsed j by hearing a sonorous peal ringing out on the clear winter air two hours after dark. This is a most unusual time for the ehurch bells to ring, as in the large churches of Rome there is, generally speaking, no evening service. Two hours after sunset in winter is a very eonvenient time lor putting nuiu - drcn to bed; so the Roman mothers inhabiting the Esquiline are accustorned to teil their little ones that it is the Madonna who is ringing the bella and calling out in bell-language, "Bambini, a letto!" or "Babies. to bed!" Then the dark-eyed, curly-haired Roman cherubs, however much inclined to be refractory otherwise, are contented to let their mothers undress them. „Then they say their little prayers, and go quietly to bed. Ifyou ask seriously about the cause of the bells ringing atthatunusual hour, the following pretty story about the campanile, or bell-tower, which is of later date than the chnrch itself, will betoldyou. _ _ ... „. One dark winter night a weaimj iwman was out late, and lost his way in the Campagna, or waste land outside the city. The Campagna is rather a dano-erous place to gct lost in, as it is wild and uncultivated, full of ruins and deep pits. Itwas infested at that time,_besides, by robbers peoplc of every kind. He wandered about for some time m darkness so thick that he could not see his tinger beforc him. Sometimes he thought he h.ad discovered. some wellknown landmark, and fancied that now he would soon find the right path, but after grooping about for a while in the black darkness he would suddenly discover that he had been moving about in a circle, and was no nearer the goal than beforc Weary, exhausted, and utterly discouraged, dreading, besides, with eTery step he took, to f all into some pi and break his neck, he almost resolved in despair to give up the eüort to reacn homo that night. lt was a starless, mclemont night, and bitterly cold. He was iust about to sink upon the wet o-round, and yield to the sleep brought on by cold and exhaustion, from which he would probably never have awakened mor- ; already hia eyes were elosing. Suddenly he thought he heard the tinkle of a well-known bell. He listened intentlv, and recognized the bells of the new bell tower of Santa Maria Maggiore, whieh were rang that evening lor some unknown canse. Thia sound revived his drooping courage. He knew now wb-u-e he was. After some roore rropino-, guided still by the sound of the bell, ho succeed in flnding the highway, and reached his home in safety. In sTateful remembrance of his escape, a wealthy gentleman, he bequeatneu a fanre sum of money forever to the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. It was to be employed to pay the nngers to ring a peal every evening, two hour after dark, during six months of the year. This has been done faithhilly during many centuries. So should any poor wayfarer lose his way in the wild Campagna on a gloomy winter night, he may have a chance of iinding it againm safëty. They are very beautiful bells, and whcn they ring out full and clear about : half past seven on a winter even'mg the Roman mothers, as I mentioned above, say to the children: "Hark to the bells, which say, Babies to bed! Pray for all poor wi-mWers this night.