JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Chilmark welcomed Santa to town on Wednesday last . . . a warm and mild day for December, but filled with the wonderful joy of young children and their enthusiastic parents — the way it should be for all our towns. We send many messages of condolence to all the grieving people of Connecticut and across the land. We all hope that through this we can make it a better world for us all.

The Chilmark Community Church invites us all to the Christmas Eve service of carols and lessons beginning at 5 p.m. on Dec. 24. Sandy Atwood will be playing the harp for the service. The church will not be offering soup suppers during the holiday week, but will offer the supper again beginning Jan. 12.

The Chilmark library is continuing the annual end of year book sale, and prices drop to half-price from Dec. 20 to 24, and then drop to free from Dec. 27 to 29. The library will be closed for the day on Christmas Eve, Christmas day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day.

The library calls to our attention that the new online language learning program, Mango, now includes Korean, both from English and to English. Any Island resident is able to acquire a Chilmark library card, and with it have access the Mango program by going to the Chilmark library website. Through this program one can see and hear the language they choose to study. So far, six languages are offered. Korean has been added because the new pastor at the Chilmark Community Church is Korean. Please call 508-645-3360 with questions, and the staff of the Chilmark library will be happy to help.

Serious work goes on in Menemsha harbor this week as workmen take out the old docks and spilings and prepare to put the new docks in along the yacht dock and in front of the gas station. I am sure they are hoping for the mild weather to continue.

Thanks to all who have brightened our holiday with their festive outdoor light displays.

Here are further details about the Haiti Holiday Raffle that the Martha’s Vineyard Fish Farm project is conducting Island-wide: they are offering six different prizes at a drawing to be held Dec. 24. Tickets are available at Backwater Trading and Vintage Jewelry in Edgartown, Moonstone Jewelers in Vineyard Haven and Jim’s Package Store in Oak Bluffs. For more information, please go to fishfarmhaiti.org.

Recently I was reminded of the Henry Look house, a small house on State Road that we passed everyday as we walked to the Menemsha school and home. The house has stood there, no doubt, since before 1900, and at the time of my recollections there was a barn behind the house. Henry Look owned a white horse that he kept in that barn and they achieved some fame by being the subject of a painting and lithograph by Thomas Hart Benton. The painting is entitled Henry Look Unhitching and depicts Henry and his white horse. We often saw the horse there on our walks. One day we saw that the horse had died and fallen down in front of the barn. Needless to say, this was of great interest to grade school children with little else to catch their attention on the way to school! We rushed back after school to watch Henry dig the hole and bury the horse where he had fallen. Nowadays there is no barn anymore, just an outline of a foundation. My curiosity is peaked now, just as it was watching Henry dig back then. Will the current owners in the course of their renovations unearth a horseshoe or some bit of harness and wonder how it got there? I can tell them!

Happy holidays to all. My hope is that we can all work a little harder for peace in our world this coming year.