From Gazette editions of May, 1935:

The schooner Alice Wentworth, bound from New Haven to Chatham with somewhere in the neighborhood of 125 tons of seed oysters aboard, anchored at Vineyard Haven Sunday afternoon, safe, tight and seaworthy, but with a crew of wearied men aboard. A loosened trunnel in her planking dropped out on the previous day, allowing a stream of water an inch or more in diameter to spurt into her bilge. Another slight leak around her centerboard casing added to the troubles of the day, and the crew of two, Capt. Zeb Tilton, and his son in law, John Oleson, assisted by the captain’s daughter, Mrs. Rosalie Leonard, were unable to keep the vessel free of water.

Captain Tilton shaped a course for the naval base at Newport, and there beached his vessel with the assistance of a Coast Guard boat, putting in Saturday afternoon pumping and searching for the leak after sending a message here for assistance. Captain Tilton was not concerned for the safety of his vessel, which was in no danger, but his cargo was the occasion for anxiety. The oysters could not stand too much hot sun, and failure to locate the leak would have meant that the vessel would have had to haul out on the railways, which in turn would have necessitated the unloading of the cargo with a probable loss of a large part. Still clinging to the sail of his forefathers, Captain Tilton opines that he and his schooner get there just the same.

Joe Penney, who runs the biggest beauty parlor in Dukes County, is dividing his time these days, about sixty-forty between his establishment and the park system. Joe was elected to the park board last winter and takes a tremendous interest in the grass, according to all reports. Each morning sees him on the green, with shears, comb and tape measure, taking sights and statistics on the growth. Paul D’Amato, who was in cold storage all last winter in Wisconsin, and Jon Galipeau, both of whom are on the job at Penney’s, opine that Joe has been using hair tonic on the park grass to stimulate its growth. This matter will be closely studied by local residents.

Traditions of fierce warfare waged between the different tribes of Island Indians before the coming of the whites, were recalled last Saturday when the bones of an Indian brave were disinterred on Tom’s Neck Farm, Chappaquiddick by farmhands of Benjamin Pease who were digging postholes. Two stone arrowheads, lying among the scattered ribs, testified that the death of this ancient brave was not accidental or natural.

A few of the bones were uncovered as the hole was dug, and on enlarging the excavation, practically the entire skeleton was disclosed. Dr. Clement S. Nevin, the medical examiner, was called to view the relics, and pronounced them to be the bones of a man between thirty and forty years of age as evidenced by the state of the teeth.

Schooner Malvina B. of Edgartown, Capt. Isaac Norton, arrived home from the southern mackerel cruise Wednesday, the vessel stocking about $3,400, a satisfying figure for the spring work. The crew shared $275 each. The vessel will continue the mackerel-chasing in local waters. Last year the schooner made a larger stock after reaching home than it did in southern waters. Of the local fleet taking advantage of the mackerel run, Capt. Phil Norton and his crew, in the Josephine II, have shared $120 each for four nights’ work, an encouraging start. Capt. Errol T. Fisher and his crew had about $50 apiece for a couple of nights’ fishing.

The mere suggestion that anything might interrupt the work of the Seamen’s Bethel at Vineyard Haven, or remove the Bethel as an institution of the waterfront, is enough to arouse amazement and something like alarm. Martha’s Vineyard has been proud of the Bethel and its work, but this long- standing pride is only one of the lesser reasons for desiring to see the institution continued. The most important reason is that the Bethel has been, is today and will be in the future one of the most successful institutions of social work here. Something must be spared for the Bethel’s cause as an evidence of the confidence the Island feels in the institution and its long administration by Madison Edwards and Austin Tower.

“It sometimes seems,” Madison Edwards wrote, “as though the day was made up of a continual round of little things. There were stores to be carried to some steamship; some boys in a yawl wish to be towed back to their vessel in a rough sea; there is a telegram for a sailor whose ship is anchored in the harbor; someone wishes medical assistance and we carry the marine doctor to his ship...” Times change but the endless round of little things goes on, which in their accumulation are most important of all things. The Bethel is always busy, a fine example of loyalty and fruitfulness.

Compiled by Cynthia Meisner

library@mvgazette.com