The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-10-28
ST. MICHAEL'S BELLS.
THEIR HISTORY BEFORE AND SINCE
THE CONFEDERATE VAR.

| have that CnurcQ poiuteu ouD' ~ pIto
Sf. Michael's, however, is much the more
beantihII. ANY one who had seen 1t would
Remember the church. with It's old.fash'
ioned mahogany pulpit, and great brass
chandeliers, and high-0lack mahogany peFs,
where the devout might pray, and the careless
sleep unseen. But chiefly were the people
proud OF their bells. There was no sncn chime
In the colony when they were hung, and, after
ihey had changed their tune of God save the
king tor 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 10 have such q life OF lts own as
bells. How they 81 mpathize with the people,
! giving voice to their joys and their sorrows!
Vow. with prophets voices, they speak to
/ each man In bis own tongue And how,
| sometimes, like mocklng spirits, they urge the
| mad fury of the mob with peels OF vengeance
| aud triumph, which In the ears OF the wiser
| iew are q knell of despair
| When the British took Charleston 10 I1SU
| thew stabbed their horses In the church, and,
| u%nhanging the bells, sent them of 10 London,
| where they we're dumped on the Tower wharf,
| and LETT unnoticed for many years: At last
| the yestry Of st. Mlchaels received a letter
| bidding them lexpect their bells oy q certain
| shIp sailing from London. The people went
| In procession to bring up from the ship t6eir
| beloved bells, which They had never hoped TO
| listen to again, and With prayers ana lIsnhs'
| eiyings they were replaced IN the enurcn
fower' The plous benefactor never made
| himself known, but he was supposed TO nave
! heen soms 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 Worehlp. ana
| celebrate all occasions OF public Joy ana sot-
row. but nightly they rang a curieW which
rnled eyery6ody's movements. It was intend
ed to warn the negroes home at nine O'Clock
in winter, ten in summer; alter That nour tney
might not 90 Into the streets without q WIFI
ten pass. The nimble negro often eluded the
statute, giving leg-ball to the "guardnan,'
but the whites put themselves under Tue rue,
OF their own accord. All visitors were expect
ed 10 take leave at bell.ring, and they pune
tually departed at the same % mat
OuYy was brushing along to gain bis gate be-
| fore the. tap of the drum should make MIN
| smenable to the law against strollers "after
| hours,n as 1t was called. 49,,
It would not suit his sketch TO recall the
! memories Of the day when the Unlted states
| fag. lowered from Fort Sumter, was brought
| up to the city ;amid q hush 80 general ,one might
| have thought the people repented them OF
| their rash act, till some one ordered the bells
TO ring q mad clang0r, and With SHOUTS OF e4.
nltstLon they drowned the voice that stSl
warned them to forbear. -
Time went on, and Charleston behind her
defences of sand resisted all the enorls 10
carry her. During the five hundred (o4ol Gays
of bombsrdment all the lower part Of the
town had to be abandoned. Houses and
churches we're shattered, the caunou-balls
tore up the very graveyards, and The bones Oh
the dead were scattered. Yet the splre OF st.
Michael's was untouched. Perhaps the can
noneers tried 10 spare lt-perhaps good angels
gnarded II. But, what neither the malice OF
The enemy nor the spite Of Fortune did, the
people themselves effected. For the bells
we're taken down and sent to Columbia, to be
cast into cannon. General Beauregard, per:
hans shocked at the dissertation, pronounced
them unit tor The purpose; and The tale,
which;heaped up at Columbia for sale-keep-
ing everything Of value In the State, there de.
tained the bells also. Then snsrmans army
passed through. leaving its track as OF light
Ming. A party of half drunken soldiers, out
for q lark and for plumber, were accos!ed BY a
negro who offered to show them the bells
which had rung 10 secession. "Never," said
the men, .shall they play that tune again ~
and they smashed them Into o hundred pieces.
Sad was the return 10 the desolaled homes,
and the meetings in The dumb church, 10
which no miracle might no~ restore lne voice
of the chimes they loved.
But they were men OF pluck still, and as
soon as they had shaken themselves up and
provided for the Grst pressing needs they re.
solved to tax themselves 10 tue utmost to get
q new chime.
Scarcely had the rector bread, aud the vestry
and congregation were all very poor. put they
wrote to G. g. Prloleau, of London, TO Inquire
the cost Of q new set. This gentleman had
lived so long In England as to have become
almost an Englishman, with o fair English
wife and bluff handsome English children, but
his heart stirred at the recollection OF
the dear old voices that had called him In
childhood, and he undertook the task with q
,h,k hr1,,rhf ohnuf tho mnat mr.
prislng results. There was no record at
Charleston of where the bells came from.
But Mr.. Prioleau searched the directory for
the Oldest founders of the city, and went from
one To the other until, at Meares d Co., White
Chapel, London, q firm which has been In
existence three hundred years, he found, by
patient examination, the record CT bells cast
1853. The proportions OF the metal, and
sizes of the bells, were all entered In the
books; and the present Meares engaged to
turn out q new get which, when hung, should
make the Charlestonians themselves think
they heard their verltable old bells. But Mr..
Prioleau was not content With this; he Wrole
back to have all the fragments that could be
found sent out, and This was done. Mean.
while, Meares found still In their service an
old men of seventy-six, who had been ap-
prentice under the very foreman who, more
than q hundred years before, had cast these
bells; and he, stimulated oy Prloieaus gene
rosity, never rested Till he brought to light the
very original moulds for the castings. Into
them the new metal was melted with care
full distribution of the broken fragments, 30
az to make the Illusion q reality. All that
was wanting to make up the cast Mr.. Prlo-
leau added, and the reward of bis persever.
ance and generosity was to send to the vestry
these neW bells, which are the very old ones
still. Again did the congregation with tears
| and thanksgiving receive the bells from this
their fifth voyage across the Atlantic and
| hung them up In st. Michael's steeple.
May they never again be removed by the
rough hand of War, or ever sound aught but
| peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
Mrs. PETIGRU CARSON.
-
TIE DEATH PENALTY IN SPAIN.
MADRID, October 26.
The Cortes rejected the bill abolishlng capl-
tai punishment for political offences. The
| vote was 80 to So.
THE SAN JOAN AWARD.
BERLIN, October 26.
The names of the Imperial advisers, on
| whose reports Judgment ID based, are Grenin.
| yice-president OF the Supreme Court; Keeper,
an eminent geographer, and Goldschmldt,
| member Of the Superior Tribunal OF Lelpslc.
| Thew charge England with vagueness IN
| wording ofLhe treaty OF ls46.