What follows is an edited selection of reader comments from the Gazette Web site on the Menemsha fire.

Seastruck

From Gazette editions of July, 1985:

Summer Perfume

There are often sweet smells in the air these sultry summer days. They cannot allay the heat, of course, but they can — and do — soothe many a temper that is weather-frayed. There is the gentle, subtle fragrance that comes from wild roses on hillsides and beaches and of cultivated, rambler roses on white picket fences. Their country cousin ramblers that bedeck up-Island rail fences, similarly, perfume the rural air.

Main Street Vineyard Haven: Summer Report

Glasses clinked in Zephrus restaurant at the head of Main street Vineyard Haven last week as the town quietly made the transition from a place where alcohol was not sold to a place where you may now buy a beer or a glass of wine at a restaurant. Zephrus was the first to pour beer and wine with meals served, followed in quick succession by Saltwater, Blue Canoe, Waterside Market and the Black Dog. The queue before the selectmen for applications to obtain licenses is expected to continue in the weeks to come.

ACCIDENT AFTERMATH

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

From Gazette editions of July, 1935:

Not all the apprehension about summer weather is justified. Take fog, for instance. From the standpoint of the fisherman or mariner, fog is always undesirable; but from the standpoint of the summer vacationer a certain amount of it may be admitted. In fact, no vacation would be complete without a certain number of fogs, some of them of the famous pea soup variety such as we have already had in the past week or two.