The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-11-21
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ment be received for insertion in our reaang
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lars II, Gdpance for the announcement " eVeiy
candidate for Office.
Interesting "reminiscences Of Charleston.
Mrs. Petigru Carson contributes to the last
issue of Applston's Journal the following pleas
ant sketch of old st. Michael's Church and IT'S
chime Of bells: .-.,-- .,s,,,.,l = ;,
VERY dear to the people of Charleston, South
Carolina. is ST. MichaeI's Church in that city,
which is said to have been built after model
furnished by Sir Christopher Wren, and copied
from ST. Msrtin's-in-t the Fields, London. The
likeness to st. Martins is so strong that no
Charlestonian, on coming to London, ,needs
have that church pointed out. The spire OF
st. Michael's, however, is much the more beau
tiful.s Any one who had seen it would remem-
ber the church, with its old-fashioned mahoga,
nv pulpit, and great brass chandeliers, and
high-back mahogany pews, where the deyout
might pray, and the careless sleep unseen; put
chiefly were the people proud OF their bells.
There was no such chime in the colony when
they were hung, and, after they had changed
their tune of God save the King for Yankee
Doodle. there never were any bells In New
York or Boston that came up to them in their
Fourth of July performances. OF all the
works of mans hands, there is none which
seems to have such life of its own as bells.
HOW they sympathize with the people, giving
voice to their Joys and their sorrows! How,
with prophets voices, they speak to each man
IN his own tongue. And how, sometimes, like
mocking spirits, they urge the mad fury OF the
mob with peals of vengeance and triumph,
which, in the ears OF the wiser few, are Kneh
of despair. o
they stabbed their horses in the church, and,
un6apging the BELLS sent them off 10 London,
where they were dumped on the Tower wharf,
and left unnoticed for many years. at last,
the yestry of st. Michaels received a letter,
bidding them expect their bells by a certain
shin sailing from London. The people went
in procession to bring up from the ship their
beloved bells, which they had never hoped to
listen to again, and with prayers and thanks
giving they were replaced in the church tower.
The pious benefactor never made himself
known, but he was supposed to have been
some British officer who had been at the taking
of Charleston. For seventy years did those
bells regulate the social life of the city. For,
not only did they call to worship and cele-
brate all occasions of public JOY and sorrow,
but nightly they rang curfew which ruled
eyerybody's movements. 1t was intended to
warn the negroes home at nine o'clock in the
winter. and ten in summer; after that hour,
they might not 60 into the streets without
written pass The nimble negro often eluded
the statute, giving ieg-bail to the ''guardman, !"
but the whites put themselves under the rule of
their own accord. All visitors were expected
to- take leave at bell-ring, and they punctually
departed at the same moment that Guilty was
brushing along to gain his gate before the tap
of the drum should make him amenable to
the law against strollers "after hours" as it
was called.
memories of the day. when the United States
Aao lowered from Fort Sumter, was brought up
"a The city, amid hush so general, one might
have thought the people repented them OF this
rash act. till some one ordered the bells to ring
q mad ciamor. and with shouts of exuitation,
they drowned the voice that still warned them
Time went on, and Charleston, behind her
8efences of sand, resisted all the efforts to carry
her. During the 500 days of bombardment,
all the lower part of the town had to be aban-
doned. Houses and churches were shattered.
Yet the spire of st. MichaePs was untouched
Perhaps the cannoneers tried to spare it-per-
haps good angels guarded it. But, what mel.
ther the malice of the enemy nor the spite OF
fortune did, the people themselves effected.
For the bells were taken down and sent to Co.
h,mhia TO be cast into cannon. Gen. Beaure-
gard perhaps shocked at the desecration, pro-
1onneetl them unfit for the purpose and the
Fate which heaped up at Columbia for safe
Feenino everything of value in the State there
detained the bells also. Then Sherman s
army passed through, Leaving its track As of
i;ohtnFyng. A party of half drunken soldiers,
ont for lark and for plunder, were accosted
nv a negro, who offered to show them the bells
which had rung in secession. NNever," said
the men, "shall they play that tune again r.
and they smashed them into hundred pieces.
Sad was the return to the desolated homes,
and the meeting in the dumb church, to which
no miracle might now restore the voice OF the
chimes they loved. But they were the men OF
pluck still, and as soon as they had shaken
themselves up and provided for the first press
ing needs, they resolved to tax themselves to
the utmost to get q new chime.
Scarcely had the rector bread, and the vestry
and congregation were all very poor, but they
.arote to n r. Prioleau, of London, to inquire
the cost Of a new set. This gentleman had
lived so long in England as to have become
almost an Englishman, with fair Englsh
wife. and bluff, handsome English children, but
his heart stirred at the recollection OF the dear
old voices that had called him In childhooo,
and he undertook the task with LOVING zeal
that brought about the most surprising results.
There was no record at Charleston of where
the bells came from. But Mr.. Prioleau search
ed the directory for the oldest founders in ohe
eity and went from one to the other until, at
Meares & Co., White Chapel, London, a firm
which has been in existence 300 years, ne found
by patient examination the record of bells cast
for st. Michael's Church, Charleston, S. C., in
1859. The proportions Of the metal, and the
sizes of the bells, were all entered in the books;
and the present Meares engaged to turn Out a
new set, which, when hung, should make tne
their old bells But Mr.. Proleau was not con-
tent with this he wrote back to have all the