The San Francisco call., 1896-06-04

I gave yesterday afternoon at her home on
Eighth street.
The affair was really given in honor Of
Mrs w. H. Fost, sprightly dame aged
| SO, and Miss Elizabeth Stone, who has at
tanned the respectable of IS. Inciden-
tally, however, four other grand old
ladies had been invited, and they were all
there bright and early, long before the
giddy young things of go and 70, and the
thoughtless young ladies of 40 and so, who
made up the bulk of the guests. came
strolling with that careless disregard OF
time which is a characteristic of youth. 1t
is true that some OF the guests were on
what is POLITICALLY called the "sunny"
side of 25, but they were mere infants, and
scarcely counted. Even guests of 49, or
thereabouts, acted on the principle that
children should be seen and not heard, and
watched admirin ely while ladies of double
their age Grated, laughed and drank tea
with gaiety and verve that would have
done credit to their great-gTandchlldren
In addition to Miss Stone, Mrs. Post
and Mrs. Parrish the oldest ladies present
were Mrs. Herring Mrs. Vero, Mrs. DR..
York and Mrs. Cowden. Mrs. Parrish,
the giver of the feast, said that in some
cases these ladies might feel ce' tain deli
cacy about naming their exact 1ears:
at is possible that they still have aSpira-
tions to get settled in life," she observed
facetiously, land those of them who have
husbands would not want to shock the
poor man by telling how old they are. )"
grega ages of these seven ladies
amounted to 567 years-that Is to say
their united spans OF life if multiplied
by three would almost date back to the
| fsrt century OF the Christian era.
| Mrs. Katherine Pa irish was the gayest
! young lady in the whole assembly at %
| Eighth street yesterday afternoon. A
gentleman who sent her bouquet told
her so and she merrily twitted the girls"
about the compliment. AS for flowers
there were so many of them that they had
to be turned over to an ante-room at last,
for the reception-room was not large
enough to hold them all.
| Mrs. Parrish had given her party in
| honor of the birthdays of Mrs. Post and
Miss Stone. All three ladies' are orators
and can speak with the fire OF youth-in-
deed Mrs. Parrish was considered one of
| the brightest speakers in the Young
Woman's Suffrage Club about year ago.
Being called upon yesterday for a speech
she Immediately rose to the occasion and
said:
Ladies, especially the elder ones, you
have conferred great favor upon me by
being present to-day. This is probably
the last time we shall meet on this side of
the shore. As we have trimmed our sails
for the other side we need have no fear in
going over there" The speaker went on
to say that the presence of so much age
and beauty had rather taken away her
mental faculties, although she Immediately
disproved tn statement by showing
number of interesting treasures-a dish
brought across from Holland in the seven
teenth century by her ancestors, quilt
made out of silk dress bought in New
Orleans sixty-hve years ago and number
OF other relics. Mrs. Parrish concluded oy
stating her firm belief in spiritualism.
81 have been church mem Der all my
life until two years ago and always feared
to die; then | became convinced of the
truth of the spjritualistic philosophy and
l have no fear now."
Mrs. Post made graceful Ettle speech,
which was much applauded, and Miss