Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1898-06-23
HISTORY OF EAGLE RIVER
A Short Account Of Some Of the Most
Important Events in Its Life and
"A Brief Mention Of Some of Et9 Lead
ing Business Men, Both Fast
and Present. by
Rev. Father Goepferts
Continued from last week. J

Continued from last week
In our last, we spoke of the solemn
Baptism of St. Peters Church Bell, by
His Lordship Mgr. Messmer, assisted
by Y. Rev. j. Fox, V. G. Rev. George
Sale and Eagle Rivers Pastor, Rev.
?. Goepfert.
Some people then and since said:
Why spend so much money for a bell?
| Long did we live here without bell. "
Ask the farmers around Eagle River;
ask the woodmen, drives men and ira
velers, whatthey Ghink Of Eagle Rivers
far resounding bell which is heard as
far as Conover and Three Lakes, and
all around, and all will respond: est.
Peters Bell is delight in our midst. "
Let fire break out at night, ST. Peters
| Bell will awaken all, and save both life
and property. A good loud bell is a
treasure in a city, the warning friend
of every one. Since SEBAsTIANUs has
been raised to our graceful belfry, it
has become a friend not only to our
citizens bnt to all our farmers for miles
around.
| 1t is why we profit of this memora BILE
occasion to give our readers d brief
sketch of the history, significance, and
usefulness of that grand Christian in
strument which for fifteen centuries,
has been ranked, as it is in our times,
among the most favorite ones, in all
civilized nations.
! The use and significance of Bells are
beautifully depicted in the words of an
old legendary Latin poet, in the two
| following Hexameters:
"Laudo Deum verum, plebem voco,
congrego clerum.
"Defunctos ploro, nimbum fugo. fes-
taque honoro. 81 praise the true God,
Ia summon the laity, assemble the
clergy.
I bewail the dead, [ dispel the tenn
pest, and honor the feasts..
Sometimes, still shorter explana-
ton is used:
"Vivos, voco mortuos plango, fulgura
FRANCO. TT call the living, | bewail
the dead, and dispel the storms.
''To us" says Chateaubriand, ''it
seems not a little surprising that a
method should have been found, by a
single stroke of a hammer, to excite the
same sentiment, at one and the same
instant, in thousands of hearts, and to
make the winds and the clouds the
bearers of the thoughts of men. Con-
Lsidered merely as harmony, the bell
possesses beauty of the highest kind,
that which, by artists, is styled the
grand.
Thunder is sublime; but only by it's
grandeur. Thus it is, also, with the
wind, the sea, the cataract, or the voice
of a whole assembled nation. With
what transport would Pythagoras, who
listened to the hammer of the smith,
have hearkened to the sound of our
bells on the vigil of some religious
solemnity. The soul may be moved by
the tones of the Tyre; but, it will not
be rapt into enthusiasm as when reused
by the thunders of the combat, or when
a powerful peal proclaims in the region
of the clouds the triumphs of the God
of battles.n
A Church is not complete unless sur
mounted by a steeple or belfry. Which
is yonder graceful structure, resting the
eye in the landscape, rising high above
all trees and human habitations? It is
ST. Peters Church whose lofty spire,