68 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET 



the bell by the tongue, he delivered himself of his 

 formula. I am not likely to forget it: ' Two boats a 

 day! Burgess's meat auction this evening! Corned 

 beef! Boston Theatre, positively last night, this even- 

 ing ! ' He was gone, and I heard bell -and horn in the 

 next street. He was the life of Nantucket while I was 

 there; the only inhabitant I saw moving faster than a 

 moderate walk." 



When Mr. Drake wrote the foregoing in his " Nooks 

 and Corners,'' he was not aware, perhaps, that the 

 town could boast of other criers equally great. Mr. 

 William B. Bay is another of our town criers, who 

 possesses a very musical voice, and combines with the 

 business of crying in the summer time the delivering of 

 baggage and parcels to any part of the town. Many 

 visitors to the island have discovered in Mr. Bay a very 

 strong resemblance to a celebrated nautical character. 



Last but not least comes Mr. Alvin Hull, the third 

 on the list. -Alvin is known as the one who deluded a 

 number of innocent and unsuspecting individuals dur- 

 ing the summer of 1880 — Burdette of the Hawkeye, 

 among the number — into the belief that there was a 

 u whale ashore at 'Sconset, eighty feet long"!! But 

 alas for their blasted expectations! the " whale " turned 

 out to be nothing but a piece of a " blasted whale." 

 Alvin has a fine voice, is modest, generally tells the 

 truth, and everybody likes him. 



Of Mr. Charles II. Chase, who is one of our most 

 exemplary citizens, and who was for years one of 

 the town criers, and who is now suffering from one of 

 those severe visitations of Providence, being totally 

 blind, the following anecdote is related, which is 



