7 OUT OF THE LAB 



£k 



155 



Beach party. 

 MBL Archives. 





The MBL "boys" would also make a game of swimming across the little 

 space of water, the "gutter, " between the tip of Penzance Point and Devil's 

 Foot Island. Just a short space, it seems. But when the tide is changing, the 

 current rips through that narrow space and makes swimming a challenge. 

 Boating tlirough the hole proves even more challenging, and a young man 

 of the 1920s would occasionally try to get his "girl" to try running the hole 

 with him to see if she trusted him well enough. 



Beach parties and boating trips have, of course, remained common 

 among the group of young people in Woods Hole. An announcement posted 

 in the post office invited the community to Mrs. Crane's annual birthday 

 picnic on Juniper Point throughout the early decades of the century. One 

 guest recalled the memorable event, complete with a choir from the 

 Russian Catliedral in New York and sometimes a balalaika performance or 

 a dance by a popular summer dance school. The MBL group also gathered 

 for Mrs. Lillie's picnic trip to Tarpaulin Cove. As the MBL group grew too 

 large to fit all together on one annual outing, the classes began to have their 

 own separate picnics; then other informal groups formed as well. As the 

 original researchers became established and bought their own houses in 

 town, and as they returned year after year for their family's summer 

 vacation, the children grew up. Many established close ties with each other 

 and with the town, so that some have decided to remain in Woods Hole, or 

 to retire here, or to visit as often as they can with their own children or 

 grandchildren. Even those who have not become scientists tliemselves have 

 often returned for the atmosphere here. 



