Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-13
MOTHER OF CLUBS
IS H0NORED GUEST
CELEBRATES EIGHTY-FIFTH
BIRTHDAY
Sunshine and Shadow MlngIe at
Luncheon Given for Madam
Severance by Friday
Morning Club

In the place of honor at table dec
GRATED with fragrant violets, the much
beloved pioneer club woman of Los
Angeles was seated yesterday while
hundreds of bright-faced members of
| the Friday Morning club smiled a well
come to the dawn of her elghty-sixth
year
Nine. Caroline NJ. Severance, presi-
dent emeritus of the Friday Morning
club, is the woman and the luncheon
was given at the Womans club house
iii honor of her eighty-ffth birthday.
Sunshine and shadow played tag on
the faces and in the hearts of the
members gathered there, for the names
of two of the pioneers who would have
had places at the table of honor can
live now only in the memory of the
women who are left behind.
Mrs. Kate Tupper Galpin and Mrs.
Mary II. Threlkeld will have another
roll call TO answer and death has ear
ried both of them away within the
week.
Mrs. Severance chose the guests who
| were to sit with her at table and they
included all that are left of the women
who, with her, started the organiza-
| ton, and all the presidents of the
club, as well as several special guests.
Covers were laid for Mrs. Rebecca
| Spring, that other young-old woman
whom the members love- Mrs. Shelley
Tolhurst. Mrs. Ernest Is. Foster, Mrs.
b. c. Whiting, Mrs. Ella Enderlein,
Mrs. Charlotte Wills. Miss Frances
Wills. Olive Thorn Miller Mrs. Joseph
Sartori. Mrs. Roy Jones' Mrs. She'd
lock- Mrs W. a. Spaulding, Miss Caro-
line Seymour, Miss Fremont, Mr.. Speh-
Ger Smith.
A huge basket of vioets and aspara-
gus ferns occupied the center of the
table and the cloth was strewn with
single blossoms. The flowers in the
basket we're tied in punches and at the
conclusion of the luncheon hour the
bouquets were presented to the guests.
Birthday Cake Is Cut
One of the most interesting features
of the afternoon was the large birth
day cake carried in by Mrs. A. d.
Davidson. Mrs. Davidson is chair
man of the hospitality committee and
it was to her that the credit for the
great success of the affair is due.
When the cake was put down in
front of Nine. Severance eighty-six
candles, one for each year and lone
to grow on" were glittering. Nine.
Severance cut the first slice and then
the one man member of the club, Mr..
Spencer Smith. finished the work. The
cake was so large that each one of
the guests-and there We're as many
as could be seated at tables on the
entire second floor of the club house
received a piece.
A delightful hour of informal toasts
followed.
Mrs. Foster spoke first saying many
things complimentary to Nine. Sever
ance and expressing the gratitude of
the club members in having Nine.
Severance with them.
Nine. Severance responded. and
though there was a smile on her face
and note of pleasure in her voice,
there was hardly an eye in the banquet
room that was not moist by the time
she had finished speaking.
She gave quotations from Octave
Thanet and Jacob Riis about the
value OF women's clubs and expressed
her apprecia ton to the Friday Morn
ing club-then came the saddest,
sweetest note of the whole day.
Her "Swan Song"
Nine Severance read some original
verses, which she called "My Modest
Swan Song"
Will it be her "swan song?" The
question stole into the heart of each
woman there. The fact that two pio-
neer members have gone within a week
brought the words home with greater
force. There was quiet in the room
as the women looked at their leader
and through it all she smiled.
Spencer Smith spoke of the power of
women's clubs and urged the Friday
Morning club to take more active
interest in public affairs. Informal
storytelling concluded the hour.
Especially delightful was the morn
ing session of the club with Miss Marie
l.. Shaddock of London, the charming
story-teller, as the speaker "rhe Fun
and Philosophy Of Hans Christian An
derson" was the subject of her talk
and few if any of the members, how
ever much they may have appreciated
the writer of fairy tales, knew the
characteristics of Anderson's genius as
Miss Shaddock revealed them. She IL
lustrated her ideas by giving sketches
from his writings.