An Unprecedented Indicent on Centre Street

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An Unprecedented Incident On Centre Street

OVER A CENTURY AGO one of the most unusual incidents in the life of the Town took place on one of the busy streets of Nantucket - Centre Street. It is doubtful if the occurrence could have been reported by one of the local journalists as well as it was reported by a visitor, and his account is hereby presented without any alterations:

"Sitting one pleasant afternoon at the hotel window - the Ocean House, by the way, kept by J. Robinson, and one of the most agreeable places we ever stopped at - we heard a slight commotion in the street, which was the nearest approach to an excitement on the island. On looking out to the street we saw a bloomer girl in full sail, followed by some twenty boys, hooting and shouting in full cry. 'There she blows! Hurrah!' But none of these crys moved the bloomer girl.

"She sailed on with head erect and a firm and determined tread. She was a young woman or forty or forty-five or thereabouts. The procession which followed her might have been her children, for aught this deponent knows. She was old enough for it. Her countenance was far from prepossessing - singular, ain't it, that all bloomer girls are alike in this particular - but her form was the perfection of 'proportions.' She was the finest formed woman we ever saw, if what we saw was the genuine article.

"Her dress was a fringed hat, tight fitting frock, which nearly reached the knees, pants, white stockings on a dainty foot, and gaiter boots. The material was shining black silk, an outrage against taste, for she glistened in the sun like patent leather. She must have been a strong-minded woman, and if she found comfort in her singular attire we are perfectly willing, and have nothing more to say."