heard nothing but the bells. He merely whispered, "Come back
to me after so many years,--O love of my soul, O thought of my life!
Peal on, for your voices tell me of Paradise."

The last note floated through the air, and as it died away something
else soared aloft forever, free from the clouds and struggles of
life.

[Illustration: BRESLAU.]

His ideal was fulfilled now. Otto lay dead, his face full of peace
and joy, for the weary quest of his crazy brain was over, and the
Harmony Chime had called him to his eternal rest.

And, past that change of life that men call Death, we may well
believe that he heard in the ascension to the celestial atmosphere
the ringing of welcoming bells more beautiful than the Harmony
Chime.

"I will relate another story," said Mr. Beal. "It is like the Harmony
Chime, but has a sadder ending."

THE BELL-FOUNDER OF BRESLAU.

There once lived in Breslau a famous bell-founder, the fame of whose
skill caused his bells to be placed in many German towers. According
to the ballad of Wilhelm Mueller,--

"And all his bells they sounded
So full and clear and pure:
He poured his faith and love in,
Of that all men were sure.
But of all bells that ever
He cast, was one the crown,
That was the bell for sinners
At Breslau in the town."

He had an ambition to cast one bell that would surpass all others in
purity of tone, and that should render his own name immortal.

He was required to cast a bell for the Magdalen Church tower of that
city of noble churches,--Breslau. He felt that this was opportunity
for his masterpiece. All of his thoughts centred on the Magdalen
bell.

After a long period of preparation, his metals were arranged for
use. The form was walled up and made steady; the melting of the
metals in the great bell-kettle had begun.

The old bell-founder had two faults which had grown upon him; a love
of ale and a fiery temper.

While the metals were heating in the kettle, he said to his
fire-watch, a little boy,--

"Tend the kettle for a moment; I am overwrought: I must go over to
the inn, and take my ale, and nerve me for the casting.

"But, boy," he added, "touch not the stopple; if you do, you shall
rue it. That bell is my life, I have put all I have learned in life
into it. If any man were to touch that stopple, I would strike him
dead."

[Illustratio