Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-08-31
HOUSEKEEPING
EXPERIMENTS
Women's Clubs of New Jer-
sey Establish Station ct
Home of Mrs. Pattison.
SECOND IN COUNTRY

ouseheeplnS experiment sta
tion, the second of it's kind in this
country, is likely to be established
under the auspices of the New Jer-
sey State Federation of Women's
Clubs, at Colonia.
The station will test new material.
methods and appliances designed to
make housekeeping easier and
cheaper, and the results will be COM
mun1cated to all the women's clubs
in New Jersey, so that the members
can pride themselves on being the
most up-to-date and scientific house
wives In the country.
The experiment station laboratory
VIII be two rooms in the house of
Mrs. F. A. Pattison, of Metuchen and
Colonia, president of the Jersey State
Federation, which she is c%ontribut-
ing to the cause, and which will be
made over into a demonstration kit
chen and laundry.
The research work will be under
the direction of a committee of
club women particularly interested
In the subject. The plan is awaiting
the sanction of the board of trustees
of the New Jersey Federation before
the work can be commenced. Mrs.
Pattison hopes to soon secure that.
The two large rooms for the purpose
have been added to the Pattison
home at Colonia.
The announcement of the New
Jersey plan was made by Charles
Bernard, who originated the expert
ment station idea and who for the
past three years has given much of
his time to it. Mr.. Bernard is a re-
tired playwright and editor, living
in Connecticut, the author of the old
favorite, The County Fair"
1t was on retiring to live in the
suburbs that Mr.. Bernard formula
ted the plans for the first experiment
station for housekeeping. He no.
t1ced that while Mrs. Bernard found
her housekeeping an agreeable task,
her neighbors were grooming and
struggling under the same burden.
A little examination disclosed that
while the Bernards kept their kit
chen supplied with la~bor-saving de-
vices, their neighbors were toiling
in the old treadmill. And this, he
learned, vas not because the hus-
bands wouldn't provide better facil=
tiles, but because most of them did
mt even know what progress had
been made.
Then 1t occurred to the Bernards,
for Mrs. Bernard is as much en-
crossed in the idea as her husband,
that an experiment station to try out
so-called labor-saving devices and to
determine which inventions were
really practical and economical,
would be Of some slight service to
the housewives of this country. Ac-
cordingly, for the last three years
every contriyance placed upon the
market, from suction cleaners down
to the latest type dish scraper or
dust rag has been examined by the
Bernards in their experiment sta
ton, which the New Jersey clubs
will use as a model.
Experiment Station No. /, is an
outlying section of a large "commut-
ing" settlement in Connecticut, be-
yond the reach Of gas main or the
electric light wires. This choice OF
location was entirely international,
Mr.. Bernard explained.
Housekeeping in the city," said
he, where you can have convent
ences is a fairly simple thing, but
country housekeepers are beyond the
reach of gas or electricity, and they
find 1t almost impossible to obtain
help of any sort. This Is more OF
less true of many of the suburban
districts, so We started out to dis
cover the appliances that would
make life worth living in the coun-
try"
The first experiment station in the
country Is a pretty little house
perched on top of a ledge of rocks,
and containing a large living room,
a small study, a dining room, two
halls and four bedrooms. Here fol-
the last three years Mr.. and Mrs
Bernard have triumphantly done
their own housekeeping, to SHOW
that they practiced what they
preached. Comments on their find
ings, reported from time to time, In
the domestic science publications
have been sufficient to arouse the in.
terest of women all i've the coun-
try. so that the Demands now re.
ceive on an average of fifty letters
day asking information or advice
All questions regarding the work Of
the experiment station are answered
entirely free, but a nominal fee is
charged for personal advice to pre-
vent their mail becoming overload
ed with needless or foolish inquiries
Besides the f~1reless cookers in the
experiment station are different
types of alcohol stoves and lamps
which have been only recently intro
duced into this country, since the
tax has been taken off denaturel al
| cohol. There is no fire al all in the
experiment kitchen, and the water
is heated from the cellar. The
boiler itself is encased in a white
jacket laced up like a football play.
er'B armor, a continuance OF Mr.. Der
nardls to lessen the amount of Goa
needed to keep the water hot.