Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-12-01
NEW-CENTURY CLUB

Domestic science was the first topic
presented before the Current Events
Glass Tuesday week. In contrasting the
older fashioned style of housekeeping
with that Of the present Mrs. Brown
said the. hopsekeeper Of today has im-
perative need of intelligent, responsible
servants, as she has so many interests
outside of her home, but with the
abundant and accurate information 1t
is now possible to obtain it should be
easy to provide good and nourishing
food for her family. There is too much
done for. the. children of today; they
are not allowed to rely sufficiently on
themselves, nor are they taught to be
good listeners. & In the days when they
were told that they. must be seen and
not heard, 2, they unconsciously i'm
bibed knowledge from the discourse of
their elders. She could remember still
the discussions on Pitt and the Corn
Laws and other subjects Of general
interest which used to be held at her
fathers table and although she had
not then understood all that was said
she recalls it still with much interest
by the light OF later knowledge.
Apropos Of the course of American
history which. Is now interesting the
club Mrs. Field gave a description Of
the historic. old town of St. Augustine,
Florida, and of its varied fortunes
Spaniard, English, and buccaneer.
Nine times within tvs, centuries it
was sacked and burned. A flavor of
antiquity hangs. over it still, which
makes it easy to imagine its earlier
history and to. people it with the men
long since passed away, Ribault. and
Ponce de Icon, and Menendez. Stand
ing on the sea wall, we think of the
weary eyes looking over the expanse Of
waters waiting for the help from home
that never came. The work on its
bsstions and walls was done by negro
slaves, Indian captives and prisoners
of war; every stone laid by sufferer.
The old slave market, the old church
and its Moorish belfry built in 1892
are memorials of the vanishing past,
the fine new hotels, Of the busy, pros
porous present
There is an earnest desire on the
part of many club members to have
action taken by the city authorities in
the matter of preventing the spread OF
contagious diseases in our schools and
city;, it is. believed that one efficient
way of accomplishing this would be by
the appointment Of medical Inspector
for the public schools.
The matter Of the disposal of house
hold refuse such as paper, rags, &c.
was discussed. One housekeeper had
followed the advice given her when she
first became mistress of home, to
"burn everything that is burnabie,
and to scrub everything that is
scrubable,' and she thought club
members should make it, matter of
principle to dispose of an refuse of a
house themselves and not allow it to be
spread on suburban streets to the dis
comfort and perhaps danger OF the
neighborhoed. Others thought that il
is not practicable to do this in oul
homes, especially in summer time
when there is often no fire in the
house as many housekeepers use gas
stoves, the city should provide for its re-
rnoyal and burning, on grounds outside
Of the limits,
Ignorance or thoughtlessness O
parents may he one cause of the
spread Of contagion; they may know
that carpets must be cleaned and walls
scraped In the. room where there ha.
been sickness, but never think tina
the doll or book with which the littl,
invalid entertained herself may scatter
contagion when she goes out again.