New-York tribune., 1921-08-21


Doesn't speak English very wel.'
Whatever of Provincetown does net center
on Commercial Street overAows to sc
wharves. The artists sketch there, Of course
The train comes IN on pier. Sightseeing
buss;s go out from the pier. The local board
of trade is built on a pier and has every ap-
pearance of a yacht club. Tie stalls along
the main pier sell anything from clam chow
der to tonic. Tonic by the way, is New
England for pop, cream soda, ginger ale, near
beer and almost anything else that comes III
bottle. To the pier come visiting sailors,
summer colonists, Portuguese art models and
all the philosophic veterans who in any other
town would be loahng around the corner drug
store. The reason probably is that Province
town has no corners.
Provincetowns nose is out of Joint this sum-
mer because of the Pilgrim Tercertenary at
Plymouth The two towns are deadly rivals
in this matter of the Pilgrims, and last year
Provincetown had Pilgrim Tercentenary OF
its own. 1t seems that the Pilgrims landed cn
Cape Cod before they ever saw Plymouth and
spent month wandering around its intricate
coast. But the important thing is that they
went away again.
Not all the residents of Provincetown are
artists or renters of rooms to artists, though
the summer visitor may find it hard to credit
this statement There are old settlers here,
too, but they are difficult to find. The Book
and discovered one quite accidentally
not in Provincetown And this kindly soul let
US in on the secret that in summer when the
artists move in the first families of Province
town move out Some of them spend the hectic
months in the seaside cottages that border the
road between Provincetown and the outer
world, while others fee to the lower part of the
Cape for peace and seclusion. This fact is not
advertised around Provincetown but, anyhow,
out they go.
Seven miles down the Cape from Province
town is Highland, site of the perfect summer
resort and also of the Cape's greatest tragedy.
Here on a cliff ninety feet above the sea is
Highland Light, second largest light on the
Atlantic Coast Dozens of summer cottages
dot the bare, rolling upland at the base of the
lighthouse, while below a white sandy beach
stretches for miles. There are hotel and
golf course and camp ground for motor tour
lists, but the real attractions at Highland are
the winey air that sweeps over the hills and
the far glinlpses of illinitabe blue sea.
AS for the tragedy, though net ending
fatally it is a profoundly moving story. 1t
concerns Bill, one Of the keeper of the light
and incidentally one of the guides to the hun
dreds Of tourists who flock to the lighthouse.
Bill according to his own version of the affair,
formerly worked on railroad. He used to
be a conductor, and he necessarily came in con
tact with great many people. in fact, there
who ho n rof hove ls
around, and Bill grew weary of his kind. Look
ing about for more desirable occupation, he
hit upon lighthouse keeping as the perfect job
for man who wanted solitude. And it just
happened-such things do happen-tnat in-
stead OF the lonely spot he hoped for Bill drew
Highland, one Of the most frequented spots CT
the greatly frequcnted Cape. Every motor car
going to or from Provincetown stops there.
and in addition busses from two three rival
companies make the trip daily from Province
town. And Bills life now is one long business
of guiding fappers up the narrow, uneasy
stairs Of the lighthouse and explaining to them
what It is that makes the wheels go round. Bill
is bearing up under it. but he feels that fate
has not dealt fairly with him.
If Prcvincetown is the Cape's glory hole
and Mashpee is its dark spot, Hyannis is as
suredly the metropolis. In Hyannis virtually
every house is gift shop Sophisticated,
genial and expensive, this town, with its conl-
Portable architecture and its wide, tree-shaded
streets. is a place to make the heart Of the
motor tourist do all sots of acrobatics.
Main Street in Hyanns (if that is really it,
nanlel is che continuous showcase. "Resl'
antiques ;nterrningled with hand painted tables
of the most approved gift shop pattern dot the
lawns Of this thoroughfare. Copper vases and
firedogs guard the approach to the shops them
selves, while cloth dolls, windmlls, sport mats
and anything else that will hang are suspend
ed from impromptu rafters built cut over the
porches.
In Greenwich Village they make their barns
into studios but in Hyannis they turn then,
into gift shops, and French laces and Madeira
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