The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-04-30
CHARMING CHARLESTON.
=
its Spring Attraction sketchel byS
Casual Visitor.
i New Englander's Notes from. the
City by the sea-The Climate and the
People Something About the Church
es-Mr. Petigrus Tomb, &c.

Ar. Hoadley, VINO, WIN seVetai
other visitors from the Bay State,
has lately been sojoqrning among
us, writing from Charleston under
date of April 5 to the Lawrence
Mass American, says:
|'I have now been in this ancient
and beautiful city nearly three
weeks, and shall quit it-although
only for a week, to return before
we finally set our faces homeward-|
with extreme regret.
No city on this Continent, few
cities in Europe, can offer greater
attractions to a dweller in dear,
Sbleak old New England than
Charleston, in the months o. March.
and April. The Battery is carpeted
with grass as green as an English
lawn; the evergreen foliage of the
live oaks is like that of "leafy
June with us, and chaperones with
dignity the unfolding graces and
tender charms of the deciduous,
renasccnt verdure of the elms. In
the market gardens, peas, although
once cut down by the unreasonable
frost, are again in bloom; radishes
are abundant, and asparagus is in
the market. The air is that of a
perfect day in June, bright, genial
and warm, and shot through and
through with breezes so fresh, so
cool, so invigorating, that ! find
myself instinctively and uncon-
sciously distending my lungs to
their utmost capacity to drink it to
the full. From the window where
I write, the "Hundred Trees" on
James Island lift their solemn tops
across the broad, bright ezpanse of
the Ashley River, and if I were to
step out on the piazza upon which
my windows open, l could see four
miles away, at the left, the pic
turesque ruins of Fort Sumter,
looming up near the horizon, not
unlike the Island Of Ischia in the
Bay of Naples; and beyond, the
open ocean, unbroken, uuobstruct-
ed, away, away-to the eye, as far
as the rim of the horizon; to the
mind as far as Africa and Spain.
On either side of the mouth Of the
barbor, beyond Fort Sumter, are
seen in the ofing, Cummings Point
to the right and Sullivan's Island
to the left. A steamboat plies reg
ularly to the last named locality,
and suburban seaside village is
rapidly springing up there a a place
of summer residence. Although
but a narrow spit of sand, across
which the waters almost meet at
the concurrence of spring tides and
easterly gales, it offers in the air
and ocean and in its fire beach, at
fractions of no common order NJ
day of all the summer is unrefresh-
ed with the cool, invigo,ating sea-
breeze, nor is the heat oppressive
in the shade Of a latticed verandah.
provided with this lite-giving air.
We spent the day there yesterday,
my wife and I, with several ladies
and gentlemen from Massachusetts,,
as the, guests of ahospitable gentle
man of this city, who has summer
residence on the beach.
Never have I enjoyed more fully
the luxury of existence-the OK
quisite delight of being alive. I
have met here a considerable num-
Der of people from the North All
with whom I have conversed are
enthusiastic in their praises of the
city, the climate and the people.
By the term "people" I by no
means intend to speak alone Of the
ladies and gentlemen with whom
one comes-if suitably introduced
Into social contact. Gentlemen
are of course the same everywhere.
Titled or untitled, of whatever
faith, political opinions or nation
ality, gentleman always feels at
home among gentlemen. But the
people at large, white and colored
alike, are civil, courteous, and we'll
behaved, and the city is a model Of
good order and propriety.
The churches in Charleston are,
many of them, very fine; some Of
them really grand old structures:
St. Michael's, st. Philips and St.
Paul's are among those [ particu-
larly admire. Few old churches
anywhere on this Continent have
SO grand an interior as St. Paul's.
St. Michaers has fine chime of
twelve bells, concerning which |
will relate a story which interested
me, and may interest your readers.
The church bells OF Charleston are
very dear to the inhabitants, and to
save them from destruction in case
the city fell, as it was feared it
might, before the assault of the
armies Of the Union, their finest
bells were taken down and sent to
Columbia for safety. When Co
lumbia was devastated by Sherman's
victorious army, some Of these bells
were carried away and some were
broken, while a few remained un-
injured, and were replaced in the
steeples, on the restorslion of
order. Among them were seven