The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-01-05
THE HOME OF TODAY
Mrs. ]. 1. Scudder Brings
the Question Before the
Women of SoroSiS.
MODERN INNOVATION cONUNDRUM
Prose and Poetry of the Severn
Story Flat Miss Florence
Turner Sings.


It might have been called Jersey
City day at Sorosis yesterday SO i'm
portant was the part played at the
meeting by jersey City people. It
was House and Home day, and
Mrs. Alice May Scudder, wife of the
Rev. J. L.Scudder, chairman of the
committee, had charge of the after
moons programme. The meeting was
held in the new ballroom of the Wal
dorf. Before the debate there was
short entertainment. Miss Carolyn
a. Paddock recited the first scene of
Act Ill, from ''School for Scandal. !"
Miss Paddock recited remarkabl well
and received merited applause. Miss
Florence De E. Turner sang Chamin-
AIDES sL'ete., and as an encore, that
unusual thing in Sorosis, a slumber
song Miss Turner'S voice is wonder
fully improved. Her execution is ad-
mirable.
Mrs. Scrldder then presented the
question of the day, Are the limo
vations Of Modern Times Beneficial to
Home Life7" She said:-
In selecting question for debate,
one should be chosen which resem-
bles weather vane, which shifts at
the breath of each debater, and yet
at the last points in the right direc-
tion. We think we have such ques-
tion today, and really pity the la
dies before me because of the tumult
which will soon arise in each breast.
am sure that when the ladies of the
negative draw the picture of quaint
old house, with vine clad porch and
a garden OF marigolds, blue bells,
Sweet Williams and other old fash
ioned flowers; when they speak of the
old log fireplace, which Ian McClaren
says is the greatest promoter of sem
timent; when they show US mother
and daughter working side by side. at
the homely duties which many wom-
en- of today despise; when they speak
Of orchards and berry patches, I am
sure you will sigh for olden times and
exclairn. with the poet:
An exile from home, splendor daz-
zles in vain,
O give me my lowly thatched cot
tage again!
The birds singing gaily that come
at my call:
Give me them with the peace of
mind, dearer than all
AOr perhaps the words of another
poet may come to US:
= There's health in the breezy pas
lures,
And joy by those gurgling rills,
That smile through the leafy sum-
nher
In the arms of the folding hills.
Yet / scorned my fathers mead
ows,
The life my father led;
Their humble cares and pleasures,
The toll for daily bread.
And our honest kindly neighbors
That had known me from child,
I held them dull and stupid
BY my erring mood beguiied.
So ] set nay face to the city
To the roaring of the main,
And left our pleasant pastures
Oil would were home againl
Perhaps this man lived in a seven
story fat and felt as the boy did, who,
when asked if he did not want a
mansion in-The Skies said: No, l
don't, and guess If you lived in the
top fiat and had to run errands, you
would not want one either
COR perhaps he had other annoy
ances and sympathized with the man
who wrote:
= The folks whose dog delights to
bark
Are living in our fat;
It's in the halls from dawn to dark,
And stirring up our flat.
The maiden who, day after day,
Win on her tin plan play;
Olif she'll only move away,
'Twould benefit our fiat
ssIsconcludfs that the player did not
move away, SO this man sighed for the
olden times.
There is, however, another side to
this question and / am sure that in a
few moments you will be rejoicing
that you live in the year 1897, with
Its labor-saving machines, its musical
instruments that require no musi
cians, its elevators, telephones, cleo
trio lights, folding beds, sanitary
plumbing and other modern appli-
ances. And as you consider this two
sided question you will vacillate, and
/ fear many pf you will find your
selves in the plight of one of my
twins when she was a very little girl.
Ii was during the Presidential cam
paign Of 1885, and one of her grandfa-
theirs was Republican and the other
Democrat. When she was at the
house OF the former be taught her to
say, sHurrall for Garfieldp When,
however, she spent the day at the
other grandfather's home, he taught
her to say, Hurrah for Hancock One
<J., r f<,1t,d f.ar loclxinu varv sad nnd