The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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FT. WORTH, Texas, Monday—My son, Elliott and his wife, Ruth, came over to Huntsville to pick us up yesterday afternoon, but we did not get away quite as early as we had hoped because the meeting was followed by questions and by the time we had returned to pick up our bags at our hostess, Mrs. Sam McKinney's house, it was after five o'clock. Our very nice state police escort who brought us over in the morning from Houston, insisted that they must go part of the way with us, but after a while we bade them goodbye, for on the whole a long drive is pleasanter without even the kindly attentions of an escort.

We stopped just outside of Corsicana at a little place called "The Derrick" and had sandwiches, coffee and milk. I always find in the south that curb service is better arranged than it is in almost any northern place I know of, perhaps because the climate makes it pleasanter to sit in yout car than to go in. It was fairly dark but we got out to walk around and before I knew it some one recognized and in a little while we had a small procession of people coming in and out to shake hands with "the President's wife". Idle curiosity can sometimes be rather trying, particularly when you are trying to eat, but anything as warm and simple as the welcome given us here, can only give one a sense of happiness and gratitude. As we left the last words I heard were: "Goodnight and good luck," from a man in a neighboring car.

We reached Elliott's home at about ten o'clock. Texas has had plenty of rain and the road to the ranch was fairly muddy but the wind blew all night and I imagine a day or two of sun will take away all the excess water. Out of my window this morning I see the daffodils blooming and in the woods yesterday I glimpsed yellow jasmine mixed with the green pine and red bud trees in full bloom. I have always heard how beautiful the fields can be in blue bonnet time, but now you get the feeling of early spring which does not come to us in the north until later in April.

When we walked into the dining room this morning, at a little table by herself sat Chandler, our two and a half year old granddaughter and she gave us the most engaging smile of welcome and did not seem to have forgotten either Mrs. Scheider or me since she left us in Washington. She promptly announced that she was a big girl whereupon her father told her to show it eating her breakfast quickly.

This house on a hill with miles of rolling country around it, is beautifully placed. You have a sense of seclusion and yet you can see neighbors on nearby hills though to reach them would probably take you sometime.

One enterprising newspaper reporter was here when we arrived last night and the telephone has been fairly busy. One or two photographers and reporters have come out here this morning, but in spite of that there is an atmosphere of peace about this place and I have a feeling that children growing up with the great danes, the horses, the cattle and the wide open space about them will perhaps have some advantages that no other life could give them.

E.R.


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Fort Worth (Tex., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 9, 1937

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a draft version of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. My Day column draft dated March 8, 1937, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 8 March 1937, AERP, FDRL