Amador ledger., 1904-01-08
AN OLD CHURCH BELL
IT CAME FROM LISBON AND HANGS
IN A NANTUCKET CHURCH.
The Story of It's Purchase by Captain
Clasby and It's Transportation to
This Country-A Very Good Clock
and a Very Fine Bell

md Very Fine Bell.
Beneath the outlook in Nantucket
church is the belfry, in which swings
the "old Spanish bell" Knowing that
this is now a Unitarian church, the Wis
itor will be surprised to see Catholic
cross on the bell. If he could read Por-
tnguese and had not previously ac-
quainted himself with the history of
the bell he would be still more sur
prised at the inscription on it. The
translation of this inscription is as fol-
lows: "To the Good Jesus of the Noun
tain the devotees 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:
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 set of
six bells in the Church of the Good
Jesus of the Mountain If their prayers
were heard '"The Mountain" is the
name of certain district in the city
of Lisbon in which there is very ven
cradle church called as above. Shortly
after this the plague ceased, and, ac-
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 Clasby of the
Nantucket whaling fleet CHANGED 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
mingos 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 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 beauty She
sounds on b.
'Well, sir" remarked Dacosta, "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 Clasby 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 it would be all right to sell.
So Captain Clasby bought the bell,
and 1t 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 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
precious bell would probably never
have seen Nantucket. 1t might now be
either at the bottom of the sea or it
| 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 1915,
when it was purchased and placed in
the tower where 1t now hangs. About
$500 was given for the bell-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 little
South church in Boston heard of 1t, and
they sent letter to the agents of the
South church in 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 very fine bell in their tower, but
no clock; that they had heard that the
Old South church had very fine tower
clock, and that they would like to
know the price of the clock.
The agents offered to pay 81 pound
for the bell. Since the bell weighs
1876 pounds, this would have made
the price S1,575, making q net profit of
$1,075 above the price paid for the bell
and 81 ,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
great honor for the bell, but it would
have been great deprivation for Nan
tucket Moreover, it would now be
spending its time in elegant leisure in
stead Of being very useful bell where
1t is. The history of this bell is like
veritable parable of human life. The