Word: belled
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Memorial Church’s bell was donated by former University President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877, in the 1930s, in memory of students who died in World War I. Its inscription reads: “In memory of voices that are hushed.” The church’s bell became Harvard’s official marker of time...
Twice in the bell’s history, the half-ton clapper came flying out from the bell while swinging and landed on the church roof. Approximately three years ago, a cable was connected to the clapper to secure it in place. Just in case this fails, there is an extra clapper waiting in the platform beneath the bell and rigging blocks underneath the bell to pull it up into place...
Before the bell was automated, a rope extended from the clapper up in the bell down into the basement of the building. Instead of climbing up to the bell, the sexton would pull with all his might on the rope and would often be carried up to the ceiling with the weight of the bell clapper...
These days, the timer makes the actual bell move, which causes the clapper inside to swing as well. A metal piece on the chain holding the bell kicks the bell back in the other direction at exactly the right time. The chimes will usually last longer than the timer is set for, because the heavy bell takes some time to stop moving...
...University holidays and on memorial days, the church’s bell is still hand-rung by Campbell, who has become an expert over the past 10 years at climbing through the church’s catwalk on narrow beams to reach steep metal staircases and cluttered platforms with large windows. On the highest platform, he climbs a thin metal ladder that finally brings him up to a door that opens onto to a small space high above the Yard...