The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-04-04
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WOMAN'S

l would dearly like to make an old fash
Toned visit such as my grandmother
and my mother used to make, says Dor
othy Maddox in the Philadelphia .ln-
quirer." 1 can see them now getting their
fine sewing tucked away in a little bag
that looked like an elongated mitten with
one end sewed up.
Sometimes / would be taken along and l
know no child ever had such lovely times.
If the sunshine was warm 1 was allowed
to play in the garden-everybody in our
n~eighborhood had a garden. 1t was gen.
orally filled with lockwood about the
edges. This was the hedge and then came
rows upon rows of flowers such as 1 tried
hard last summer to coax into my city
garden.
And when the afternoon visit was made
on a rainy day 1 had the most delightful
garrets to roam about in. There were
mysteries, beautiful mysteries, under the
caves. I always took into my confidence
a long-legged sawdust creature called Be
linda. She and l were inseparables.
We used. to watch the shadows grow
longer and longer and after awhile l
would whisper to the precious companion
my hopes.
Belinda, dear, mother is going to stay
~ ARR eAASs civ AHS R0t -.
seemed to my childish imagination as de-
lighted as 1 was. 1 always thought 1 de-
tected a CLEAN of joy in the depths of her
eyes, artistically made with pen and ink,
ana that the dear one understood what a
delicious treat was in store for her when
she heard the magic word sally Lunn.'
An old fashioned supper when | was a
child was not complete unless we had this
delicacy or puffy rolls or hot biscuits. And
there was a dish of pinky ham or home
smoked tongue to go with the fried chick
en- or the oysters. And on the table was
a glass DOW of quivering wine jelly and
such cup cake
| don't suppose I should have encour-
aged these memories had 1 not lately been
racing from hc.sa 20 house ieaving sense
less pieces Of pasteboard and praying ess:l
time the electric bell sounded last The
maid nlisat say her mistress was ont.
ii a greA; ATTY imagine me appearing at
the lcnss Of my saioss intimate friend with
a little :nll IT se~ins and calmly settling
DOWN for ;he afternoon.
the lady .nigAs be a most hospita5le
creature. but she would need time, lots Of
time to arrange such a visit. l Shout
have to send her notice ten days in adj
vance at least, 50 that she might call off
some of her engagements. and even IL we
did have the afternoon together we would
be obliged to assemble at $3.50 or Z to par
take of that horrible apology for a coy
meal-the late dinner.
Alasi of all our many pretenses this visit
ing of ours is the greatest, when we put
on our best clothes and hurry from one
point to another to see how many people
we can bore before nightfall. The more
..,5- taf+ tho nrao tor tho ciOh of rPliaf II
We talk platitudes and get back home
tagged and fretted. I was talking the
whole business over with a few friends
the other day. and we agreed that a
greater farce could not be enacted. Some
one in the party advised the country for
a spell if one wanted 20 enjoy the print
tive in hospitality. I fairly groaned at
Lis Then I said:
the country? Good gracious what an
-6iSSclnation, Let me impress upon you
my friends, that old-fashioned Wis
iting in Inc country is about as
rare as it is in the city. Progress
is stalking straight through annie and
country side, and it will not allow
any of the sweet old 1avors of hospitality
to remain. 1t gobbles up all informal ideas
and replaces them with notions as strain
ed as we have in this town.
sit is Just hea~rtbreaking. I want to tall
you my experience. 1 went into the eoun-
try not long ago way back to wnere
thought the heartless tramp of coiviliza-
thought the heartNss tramp of ~civiliza-
I'VE are invited said my cousin, "to
Mrs. Blanks, mentioning a country house
about a mile away. Great was the re-
joicing in my heart. 1 believe l said, How
lovely, Now we shall ave an old time
visit 1 remembered afterwards that MY
cousin looked rather oddly at me when l
went off on this tangent.
"The day came. 1 began getting ready
about 2 o'clock.
mo hurry said the cousin. / waited
until 3, 4, 3.
"a $50 we made a start. I was told rot
to fdget. that we were in plenty of time.
for the dinner would not be served until
half-past six. When we got to the house |
found the hostess and her daughter dress
ed within an inch of their lives, the house
flooded with citifed lights and shades and
when we sat down to the dinner,sfor alas!
ii was detestable dinner, l was SO disap-
pointed L could have cried.
81 learned afterwards that the entire
household had been upset for two days
getting up something that would suit a
e sun 1l0bi
How the women laughed when / told
them the story. I see nothing myself to
smile over in such rank heresy to good old
time hospitality.
I long sometimes with a longing beyond
expression, to escape from the sitting at
that surrounds conventional
and conventional hostesses, to
escape and find a refuge in an old-fash-
family room that smells of sweet
herbs, to talk with a woman untouched by
the ennui of town life, TO gather at night
about a table that has never known a
pink candle shade: to walk home or drive
under the stars thai shine nowhere as
they shine above dewy fields; to take into
my lungs deep draughts of sweet-scented
air. never so sweet as when it rises from
the meadows and orchards after the even
ing has closed in.
WHAT the great Bradley Martin
balls have been in recent times to
The whole country as browning events OF
social splendor, so were the Rush balls m 5
The early ffties., writes William Perrine, {
ssThe Magnificent Madam Rush. ! :
Philadelphia social celebrity, in the April !