From the August 24, 1945 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

There is a kind of chanting, simmering, persuasive music these August nights which reminds one that although the pinkletinks have to work alone, the crickets, locusts et al, have a symphony orchestra of many virtuosos. This is one of the differences between spring and summer nights.

What it is that the August orchestration persuades us of would be hard to say, for it must come under the head of poetry. Nothing else would quite cover the matter, and in the softness of a southwest breeze poetry seems philosophy. The processes of thought may be set aside for a rest while the spirit enjoys a direct association with certain pleasant facts of the outdoors.

That nature may be cruel is subordinated to the equal truth that life is abundant and still beautiful. Where there is hardship there is also rest, where there is violence there is also harmony and peace. And the world of the crickets is also ours, a basic truth we had forgotten. We go out of doors and join in, and the crickets and locusts play on.

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Miss Edith Nightingale is the new owner of the Green Waltz, the gown once worn by Miss Anna Neagle, motion picture star, and designed by Mme. Magda Polivanov, Island summer resident. The dress, which has been shown in the three down-Island towns, and was contributed to help defray the cost of the chamber music concerts in the Tabernacle, earned a total of $185 for that cause.

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Now that larger affairs are straightening out, it may be time for another report on the Navy’s private war with Edward T. Vincent of Edgartown. It is Mr. Vincent, Gazette readers will recall, whose land in the Katama region was occupied without notice of any kind some time ago. And it was Mr. Vincent’s fence which was bulldozed down without any arrangement for restraining his cattle or for compensation for damages.

A juncture has now been reached, it was learned this week, at which a Navy officer has approached Mr. Vincent on the matter of a lease of the land beginning in July and running another year. Mr. Vincent informed the officer that he was agreeable to a lease if it was written his way.

Asked for particulars, he said the instrument should recognize the fact that nothing has been paid for the land for the past two years during which the armed forces have used it, there should be a stipulation for the rebuilding of the fence, and the lease should also provide for putting the land back as it was when the Navy moved in and put him out.

“How much would it cost to restore the land?” inquired the officer.

“Oh, about $50,000, I guess,” replied Mr. Vincent. “That land used to cut ten trons of hay a year, and you’ve taken most of the topsoil and carted it up to the middle of the Island.”

The matter is still in abeyance.

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Manuel Baptiste of Vineyard Haven picked a Victory cucumber in his garden this week. Two cucumbers joined into a V at the stem ends, each measuring 8 inches long formed the victory sign. Considering the time required for a cucumber to develop from blossom, the emblem must have been in preparation some little time before V-J Day, and this Mr. Baptiste likes to believe.

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The Shearer Summer Theatre Group will present the play The Women, by Clare Booth Luce, this evening at the school gymnasium on Perkins avenue.

The play is staged by Elizabeth White, assisted by Doris Jackson, with Dorothy West as stage manager, and the programs are designed by Grace and Marie Turner. Mrs. Sadie Shearer Asburn is the advisor.

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The proposed runway is the major part of an authorized improvement program involving the expenditure of more than $500,000. Interest in the award of the contract is especially great because of the possible bearing of this step on the continuance of the field by the Navy, now that the war has ended.

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Another proof that the war has ended is the fact that the air forces now have time to devote a day to something else than training for battle. Lieut. Comdr. Norman G. Asbury announced this week that an air show will be held at the Martha’s Vineyard N.A.A.F. on Thursday, Aug. 30.

It is known that the public will be invited to attend and that planes from several other fields will participate. The program is being worked out in connection with Quonset, which will also stage an air show that day.

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For the first time in years, a tug with three barges passed the harbor in Monday, light barges, bound west. The village is not only thrilled by the sight, but likewise by the fact that such news can be published once more. Cap’n George Cleveland, among the last of the down-Neckers, danced on the headland in front of his house and sang: Happy Days Are Hear Again!

Compiled by Hilary Wallcox
library@vineyardgazette.com