DASHING THROUGH THE SNOW ON COUNTY ST. – You can almost hear the bells jingling & the warm greetings exchanged by these passing one-horse open sleighs in this ca. 1890 photograph by Clifford Baylies, made from a dry plate glass negative. The modern view, taken yesterday on a foggy Christmas Eve, reveals the house on the far right is gone, the cast iron fence on the left remains, and the steeple of Grace Church looms out of the mist at the crest of Country just as it did 110+ years ago. Now almost entirely associated with Christmas, jingle bells were a public safety requirement, as a fasting approach sleigh was nearly silent and thus a great danger to pedestrians. Commonwealth of Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 89; Section 3: “No person shall travel on a way with a sleigh or sled drawn by a horse, unless there are at least three bells attached to some part of the harness.”
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000