The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-30
AN OLD CHURCH BELL
1T CAME FROM LISBON AND HANGS
IN A NANTUCKET CHURCH.

| Tho. Story of Its Purchase by Captain
CLASSIFY and Its Transportation TO
This Courtry-A Very Good Clock
and a Very Fine Bell.
| Ennca th the outlook In q Nantucket
church is tue bclfry, in which swings
The ~oid Spanish bell" Knowing that
this is now Unitarian church, the vis-
itor will be surprised to see Catholic
cross on the bell # he could read Por-
turuese and had not previously ac-
oualnted himself with the history Of
the bell he would be still more sur
priscd at the inscription on it. The
translation Of this inscription is as fol-
lows: 'To the Good Jesus Of the Noun
tain the devctees Of Lisbon direct their
prayers, Offering Him one complete set
Of six bells, to call the people to adore
him in his sanctuary. Jose DominSos
Dacosta has made it in Lisbon in the
year 1910" Of course the bell must
have an interesting history to account
for this inscription. That history IS
briefly as follows:
A plague was raging in Lisbon and
certain people in that city prayed to
the Virgin Mary for the cessation Of
the plague and vowed to place a set Of
six bells in the Church C, the Good
Jesus Of the Mountain If their prayers
we're heard. 1.-The Mountain" is the
name Of q certain district in the city
Of Lisbon in which there Is very ven
erablc church called as above. Shortly
after this the plague ceased, and, ac-
| cepting this rs the answer to their
prayers, these devotccs Of Lisbon pro-
ceeded to fulfill their VOWS. The work
Of casting these six bells was intrusted
to Jose Doningos Dccosta, the best
bell founder In Lisbon.
The six bells had been cast, the mas
ter's labors had been crowned with
success, when Captain Clasby Of the
Nantucket whaling feet Glanced to
visit Lisbon. He had long wished to
buy bell for use in his native town.
In company with Captain Cary he
visited the bell foundry Of Jose Do
uineos Dacosta. Captain Cary, 1t
seems, was connoisseur In bells. Da-
costa. applied the lever to one bell after
another as he struck each to ascertain
Its peculiar tone or tone quality, but
each time Captain Cary said, THAT
will not Co."
At last Dacosta raised and struck
the bell whose history we are describ-
ing. Captain Cary was delighted with
the result. "Ah, Clasby," he said,
you need look no further. That's the
bell you want. She is beauty. She
sounds on b.
"Well, SIR" remarked Dacosta, 1--WE
consider that to be the finest bell that
we have in our foundry"
at first Dacosta demurred and could
not see his way clear to selling the
bell, since it belonged to the set Of
chimes designed for the Church Of the
Good Jesus Of the Mountain and was
appropriately inscribed and all, but
CAPTAIN CIasby would have no other.
Finally Dacosta decided, since the bell
had not yet been consccrated and since
he could cast another to take its place,
that it would be all right to sell.
So Captain Clasby bought the bell'
and it was brought to Nantucket by
Captain Cary, whose vessel was going
home first. In Lisbon, just before he
set sail, Captain Cary heard of the dec
laration Of war with Great Britain,
for it was now the year 1872. On the
way over they were spoken by a Brit
ish sloop Of war. Fortunately the Brit
isher had been at sea for some time
and had not yet heard Of the declara.
ton Of war. The commander asked
Captain Cary the news, but Captain
Cary says he took especial pains not
to tell all he knew. If he had told, our
precious bell would probably never
have seen Nantucket. It might now be
either at the bottom Of the sea or 1t
might be swinging in the tower OF
some English church.
The bell was landed in Nantucket
and placed In the store cellar OF Sam
uel Cary, where 1t remained until 1elo,
when it was purchased and placed IN
the tower where it now hangs. About
$500 was given for the be!l-the society
paid about $3.50 and the rest was raised
by subscription. Even some FRIENDS
or Quakers subscribed.
After the bell had been in use a little
| while the agents Of the historic Old
South church in Boston heard Of 1t, and
they sent Il letter to the agents OF the
South church il Nantucket, saying that
they had very good clock in their
tower, but no bell; that they had heard
that the South church in Nantucket
had very fine bell, and they would
like to know for how much the bell
could be bought.
The Nantucketers replied that they
had a vcrC fine bell In their tower, but
no clock; that they had heard that the
Old South church had a very fine tower
clock, and that they would like to
know tie price Of the clock.
The agents offered to pay 81 pound
for the bell. Since the bell weighs
1875 pounds, this would have made
the price S1,575, making a net profit OF
SLOTS above the price paid for. the bell
and ST ,225 above the amount contrib
| uted by the society. 1t seems that the
old Nantucketers must have had some
sentiment after all and were not purely
mercantile In their spirit.
If the Nantucketers had agreed to
sell, as they might have done, our bell
would probably be hanging in the his
toric tower Of Old South church in
Boston today. That might have been
q great honor for the bell, but it would
have been a great deprivation for Nam
tuckct. Moreover. it would now be
spending its time In elegant leisure in
stead Of being q very useful bell where
1t is. The history Of this bell IS like q
yeritable parable Of human life. The
possibilities which occur in the history
of +ba hnIl roInind nc of tT1a noSSfhilitieS