The new telephone building at Vineyard Haven, which is now nearing completion so far as the exterior is concerned, marks the passing of an epoch in the Island history of the telephone and the beginning of a new one.

With the completion of this building and the transfer of the offices and plant of the company to its new quarters, the common battery system will be put into operation in the towns of Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs, and all connections between the Vineyard Haven office and Boston will be by cable.

Two of the anthems sung by the Union Chapel choir last Sunday were new arrangements of Harry T. Burleigh’s “Were You There When They Crucified Him” and “Deep River.”  Mr. Burleigh, one of the country’s eminent composers, was present in the congregation. Mr. Burleigh is, as well, a noted baritone whose voice is heard over the radio from the vespers of St. George’s Episcopal Church, New York, where he is a soloist. He is a regular summer visitor to Oak Bluffs.

The newest of the Vineyard’s three golf courses is just two years old. Its nine greens checker some of the most beautiful of the rolling lands of Edgartown, well beyond the settled blocks of the town on the northwest, and overlooking Vineyard Sound, Trapp’s Pond and numerous bits of memorable landscape. In scenic quality the course was, from the start, unusual. In its technical development, from the standpoint of the golfer, it now has many claims to distinction.

Christened with a smile, by Miss Alice C. Seaver, the New Bedford, the latest addition to the fleet of the N. B., M. V. and N. Steamboat Co., took to the water Saturday. With her flags flying in the sunshine she slid from the ways at the fore River shipyard at Quincy before an audience of several hundred.

Two tugs awaited the steamer which slid smoothly down the ways, and within two minutes they had lines aboard the vessel. They towed her to a nearby dock, where she was tied up until after luncheon was served to the launching party, which then proceeded to inspect the steamer.

From this day forth the Islander and the Nobska are but names, not boats. The Islander becomes the Martha’s Vineyard, the Nobska the Nantucket. Deputy Collector of Customs Duffy of the port of New Bedford has announced that on application of the New England Steamship company the change of names for the vessels has been approved by the commissioner of navigation. The third new steamer of the line will be the New Bedford. Thus are honors distributed with mathematical precision between the ports of call of the Island line.