The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1904-02-05
AN OLD CHURCH BELL
IT CAME FROM LISBON AND HANGS
IN A NANTUCKET CHURCH.

Beneath the outlook in a Nantucket
church is the belfry, in which swings
| the old Spanish bell" Knowing that
| this is now Il Unitarian church. the Wis
| itor will be surprised to see (b'athOiic
cross on the bell. If he could read POr-
tugucse and had not previously ac-
quaintets himself with the history OF
the bell be would be still more sur
prised at the inscription on ii. The
translation Of this Inscription is as fol-
lows: To the Good Jesus Of the Noun
tain the deyotees of Lisbon direct their
prayers. offering Him one complete set
OF six bells. to call the people to adore
him in his sanctuary. Jose DOmingos
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:
\ 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 of the Good
Jesus of the Mountain il their prayers
were heard The Mountain" is the
name of certain district in the city
of Lisbon in which there is a very ven
cradle church called as above. Shortly
after this the plague ceased. and, &C
cepting this as the answer to their
prayers. these devOtees Of Lisbon pro-
ceeded to fulfill their vows. The work
OF casting these six bells was intrusted
to Jose DomingOs Dacosta. the best
bell founder in Lisbon.
The six bells had been cast, the mas
ter's labors had been crowned with
success, when Captain CLASSIFY of the
Nantucket whaling feet CHANGED to
visit Lisbon. He had long wished to
buy a bell for use In his native town.
In company with Captain Cary he
visited the bell foundry OF Jose Do
mingos DacOsta. Captain Cary, 1t
seems was a 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 do"
At last DacOsta raised and struck
the bell whose history we are describ-
ing. Captain Cary was delighted with
the result "Ah. CLASSIFY" he said,
you need look no further. That's the
bell you want. She is a beauty. She
sounds on b"
We'll. SIR" remarked DacOsta, I'VE
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 CLASSIFY would have no other.
Finally DaCosta decided, since the bell
had not yet been COnsecrated and since
he could cast another TO take its place,
that ii would be all right TO sell.
So Captain CLASSIFY 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 il was now the year 1912. On the
way over they were spoken by 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
10 tell all he knew. If he had told, our
precious bell would probably never
have seen Nantucket. 1t 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 it remained until 1915,
when it was purchased and placed in
the tower where it now hangs. About
$500 was given for the bell-the society
paid about $3.50 and the rest was raised
Icy 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 IT, and
they sent letter to the agents Of the
South church in Nantucket, saying that
they had a very good clock In their
tower, but TO 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 very 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 the price OF the clock.
The agents offered to pay 81 a pound |
for the bell. Since the bell weighs |
l $40 pounds. this would have made |
the price 81 .5T5, making a net profit Of |
81 ,075 above the price paid for the bell |
and $1,225 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 !
in their spirit.
If the Nantucketers had agreed to