Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1910 — BELLS WITH A HISTOHY [ARTICLE]

BELLS WITH A HISTOHY

Ancient Chimes Occupying the Belfry of St. Michael’s, Charles- • ton, S. C. Most famous in amebica. In 150 Years They Have Had Many Strenuous Experiences, But They Are Still on Duty. Replete in Its landmarks of other days, old Charleston is a South Carolina city to be begu tided more by evidence of what has been, rather than by what is, says Winifred 8. Haynet in the Atlanta Journal. Among its many remaining edifices of bygone days there are none which speaks mors eloquently of the cultured religious life of this gracious city than its msny interesting and beautiful oldtime churches, erected in many instances by the grandfathers and great grandfathers of the men and women who attend their services to-day. Tourists go to St. Michael's, opened for worship in 1752, the oldest unmodeled church In~the United States. Modeled after the church by Christopher Wren, in London, the resemblance, though not so pretentious, is quite marked. In the small, crowded churchyard adjoining sleeps the distinguished statesman, Robert Hayne, and few indeed are the crumbling stones which do not bear names of men and women whose lives meant •much in these proud colonial days of that old city. Within the church are many tablets too many, in fact, to read. One is shown the pew in which .Washington sat, and which has since been occupied by most of the city’s distinguished visitors—Robert E. Lee, the Princess Louise of England, and various of our Presidents. It is a pretty day, and if one has the courage for the climb, he may use his own pleasure about ascending through the belfry to the watch tower used during the revolution. From there an excellent view of the city may be had, and of the beautiful harbor, with little Fort Sumtefr a black dot, and the misty ocean stretching far beyond. The situation naturally reminds one of the Old North Church at Boston, with Its celebrated lanterns—“one if by land and two if by sea.” In the belfry are to be seen the chimes, which, in point of history at least, are the most famous in the United States. Originally Imported from England, they have crossed the Atlantic five, and in the case of one bell, seven times, to do duty for St Michael’s, nothing demonstrating to a greater extent the Charleston people’s regard for sentiment than the history of these chimes. Confiscated by the British in the days of the American revolution, during Sir Henry Clinton’s occupancy of the city, they were sent to England as trophies of war, where later they were purchased by a private citizen and returned to Charleston. In tho course of time one of them became cracked and was sent to London for repair. During the Civil War they were sent to Columbia, S. C., by the people of Charleston to be made into cannon |f needed. They were spared, however, but when Sherman burned Columbia they were ruined, until their molten metal was gathered up and again shipped to London, where they were remodeled in the original casts by the successors of the first firm. Up in their belfry home they still ring out in the glad refrain they have played, when possible, each Sunday morning for more than 150 years; for regardless of this sad old city’s innumberable calamities —its wars and Ores and floods, its disastrous storms and earthquakes—St. Michael’s chimes have continued to' “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow."