Interesting Day At Lyceum Club: American Guest

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 16, 5 November 1948, Page 5

Interesting Day At Lyceum Club: American Guest

Those present at the Lyceum Club on Tuesday afternoon were pi'ivileged to meet a most charming and interesting person in the wife of Profesor W. E. Petersen. • On. her arrival she was welcomed by the president, Mrs E. T. Dawson, and - presented with an attractive shoulder spray.

It was somewhat difficult to realise that Mrs Petersen could be the mother of an almost adult family, arid the possessor of a small grandson; one son being a doctor, another a dentist, while her youngest daughter is. still at school.

Chatting informally with members, Mrs Petersen gave interesting of her own country. ' Domestic help is as difficult to obtain as it is in New Zealand, she .-.said, though most households possess the essential electrical appliances, but not those elaborate gadgets that we read about. Where was / available country women usually possessed washing machines and refrigerators, though many of course were without them.

As the State of Minnesota possesses many more cows than the whole of New Zealand we realise the extent of the rural population, though farm holdings were generally smaller. In the city of Saint Paul, Women’s Clubs were organised on much 'the same lines as our own, though *one in which Mrs Petersen was particularly interested was solely for the wives of Graduate Students and •developed along cultural lines. Country women’s organisations centered mainly round the life of the f Church. City dwellers wishing to entertain formally were able to get caterers in, which greatly simplified matters. Mrs Petersen particularly enjoyed our colourful gardens, for with • an annual rainfall of 26 inches, short summers, severe winters, with often a heavy snowfall, their gardens 'had a short flowering. season. She was enjoying too our varied and attractive scenery, but so far felt that the weather had been disappointing. Last year Mrs Petersen travelled with her husband in-Great Britain, 'Denmark and Scandi vania. and was ■now looking forward to seeing more -of New Zealand..