Charity is fine, but keep it down

Hear them ring? No?

Then you must be at Valley Mall in Hagerstown, Md., where the Salvation Army was asked to mute its famous bells. Instead, they’ve replaced the brass clappers with large metal paper clips to appease merchants who complained the bell ringers were too loud.

The clappers were quelled in the three bells used indoors at the western Maryland mall but not in the two outside, a local Salvation Army official said.