Mingling with this sound and that of the splashing rain was
another--the clang and scream of the bell in the church-tower. It was rung
as the tocsin, with that quick and wild movement which had startled me
elsewhere in the depth of night with the cry of 'Fire! Fire!' The bell,
however, was not rung now to give the alarm of fire, and to summon
everybody to lend a helping hand in extinguishing the flames, but to
persuade the storm either to go somewhere else or to act with moderation.
This old custom--now dying out--is no doubt founded on the religious belief
that when the church bell is rung with faith a storm will do no harm; but
the country people join to the religious idea the notion that the vibration
of the atmosphere, caused by the ringing, dissipates the storm or turns it
in another direction. Unfortunately for the ancient custom, churches have
frequently been struck by lightning at the time when the bells were being
rung, and science is positive in declaring that the electric fluid is
attracted by an artificial commotion of the atmosphere. On the _causses_ of
the Quercy, the peasants place bottles of holy water on the tops of their
chimneys as a protection against lightning.
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