The Chimes

Charles Dickens, who published in 1843 "A Christmas Carol in Prose" about the old gloomy miser Ebenezer Scrooge, is generally considered the founder of the Christmas story genre on a worldwide literary scale. He wrote and published similar works throughout his life. A traditional Christmas (or holiday) tale always has a bright and joyful ending, and in it, good invariably triumphs. The Christmas story "The Bells," written just a year after the tale about Scrooge, has the subtitle: "A Wonderful Tale about Bells that Rang at the End of the Old Year and Announced the Beginning of the New." Old messenger Toby Veck always listened for the ringing of the bells, and it seemed to him that they were talking to him. And one day, in the days just before Christmas, the spirits of the bells helped him to better understand the person he loved more than anyone…