Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy by Frank Richard Stockton
page 41 of 313 (13%)
page 41 of 313 (13%)
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A LIVELY WAY TO RING A BELL. [Illustration] Here are two young men who look very much as if they were trying to break their necks; but in reality they have no such desire. They are simply ringing that great bell, and riding backward and forward on it as it swings through the air. These young fellows are Spaniards, and in many churches in their country it is considered a fine thing to go up into the belfry of a church or cathedral, and, when the regular bell-ringers are tired, to jump on the great bells and swing away as hard as they can make them go. No matter about any particular peal or style of ringing. The faster and the more furiously they swing, the jollier the ride, and the greater the racket. Sometimes in a cathedral there are twenty bells, all going at once, with a couple of mad chaps riding on each one of them. It is, doubtless, a very pleasant amusement, after one gets used to it, but it is a wonder that some of those young men are not shot off into the air, when the great bell gets to swinging as fast and as far as it can go. But although they hold on as tightly as if they were riding a wild young colt, they are simply foolhardy. No man or boy has a right to |
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