The new Vineyard ferry Islander arrived at Vineyard Haven yesterday afternoon, greeted with whistles from the Martha’s Vineyard, which lay at the dock, the whistles of the fleet of Taylor’s lighters, and blasts from assembled cars. All down-Island towns had displayed their flags throughout the day, and the visiting hours, together with music by the Vineyard Haven Band, followed during the early evening when more than 3,400 people inspected the boat.

Only the quick action of Capt. Samuel B. Norton, the skill and equipment of the Edgartown Fire Department, the aid of the sprinkler system just installed and not ready to function automatically, and one or two elements of chance such as a lack of wind and the time at which smoke and flames appeared over and through the building, prevented the destruction of the Harbor View Ho­tel in what was so nearly a disas­trous conflagration late Wednesday afternoon.

The proposed revival of a roller skating rink in Oak Bluffs calls to mind the grandeur of the one that occupied a place of honor in that town from 1878 to 1892.

Roller skating became a craze in the early 1870’s, and the first roller rink in the country was built in Worcester by a wealthy promoter named Samuel Winslow who had invented a new and improved type of skate, in 1876. The idea caught on with great speed, and by the time the rink at Oak Bluffs was completed, just about every able-bodied individual in the country was swooping around on roller skates.

A formal agreement for the purchase of the Harbor View hotel at Edgartown has been signed, and the purchasing group for which Alfred Hall has been acting since the first agreement was executed a few weeks ago, will take title to the property in December. But work toward the renovation and rehabilitation of the hotel will begin at any time, Mr. Hall told the Gazette this week, with an expenditure of at least $50,000.

The annual derby dance, which is a part of the opening of the striped bass derby, was held at the Tisbury school auditorium on Friday night, bringing out a gratifyingly large crowd and a brand new class of contestants for the various prizes offered. Manny Silva’s orchestra pleased the dancers, and the committee, headed by Clifford Luce, went to considerable lengths to make the event enjoyable.

Harry Thacker Burleigh, eminent composer, singer, and arranger of Negro spirituals — and who was for more than thirty years a summer resident of the Vineyard — died in Stamford on Sept. 11 at the age of 82. He was one of the great figures in music in his generation.