Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-12-06
A HISTORIC BELL.
Cast In Lisbon In 1910, 1t Hangs
In Nantucket Church.
BROUGHT HERE IN 1912.
Its Portuguese Inscription Suggests an
Interesting Story of How II Was
Ordered Built by the People In Testi-
nony of an Answered Prayer.

interesting story or How II Was
Ordered Built by the People In Testi-
mony of an Answered Prayer.
Beneath the outlook in Nantucket
church is the belfry, in which swings
the "old Spanish bell" says the Spring
field (Mass.) Republican. Knowing that
this is now q Unitarian church. the Wis
| itor will be surprised TO see a Catholic
cross on the bell. If he could read Por-
tuguese and had not previously &C
quainted himself with the history of
the bell he would be still more sur
prised at the inscription on il. The
translation Of this inscription is MS fol
lows: ITO the Good Jesus Of the Noun
tain the dcvotees Of Lisbon direct their
prayers. offering him one complete ser
of six bells. to call the people to adore
him in his sanctuary. Jose nomingos
Dacosta has made II In Lisbon In the
year 1910" OF course the bell must
have an interesting history 10 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 o.
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 q 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
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 fleet CHANGED TO
visit Lisbon. He had long wished to
buy a. bell for use in his native town.
In company with Captain Cary he WIS.,
! tied the bell foundry of Jose DOmingOs
Dacosta. Captain Cary, it seems, was
cOnnoisScur in bells. DacoSta APP
| piled the lever to- one bell after another
| as he struck each to ascertain its pc
culiar tone quality. but each time Cap
tain Cary said, THAT will not do"
At last DacOSta raised and struck the
| bell whose history we are describing.
! 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, ave
| 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 he'll
since il belonged to the set of chimes
designed for the Church Of the Good
| Jesus of the Mountain and was appro.
! priately 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 it's place
that it 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
! laratlon Of war with Great Britain. for
it was now the year 1912. On the way
over they were spoken by a British
sloop of war. Fortunately the Britisher
| had been at sen for some time and had
not vet heard Of the declaration Of war.
| The commander asked Captain Cary
the news. but Captain Cary says he
| took especial pains not to tell all he
! knew.
The bell was landed In Nantucket and
placed in the store cellar OF Samuel
Cary, where it remained until 1915,
when 1t 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
by subscription. Even some Friends or
OuakerS subscribed.
After the bell had been in use little
while the agents Of the historic OLD
South church in Boston heard Of II, ana
they sent letter to the agents OF tho
South church in Nantucket, saying that
they had a 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 bo
bought.
The Nantucketers replied that they
had 4 very fine bell in their tower. but
no clock; that they had heard that the
Old South church had very fine tower
clock ana 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 1915
pounds. this would have made the price
S1.575. making a net profit Of $1,07I
above the price paid for the bell and
81, 225 above the amount contributed
by the society. 1t seems that the old
Nantucketers must have had some SEN
timent after ali ANA were not purely
mercantile in their spirit.
IF thc NantucketerS had agreed ~