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

      

HYDE PARK, Sunday—Thursday night I went to see "Porgy and Bess." I saw this musical play for the first time some years ago when Todd Duncan was featured, but I enjoyed it just as much this time. I can well see why it was such a success in Europe last winter. It is a genuine American drama for which George Gershwin wrote fine music, and Du Bose Heyward's lyrics sing in your ears for hours afterwards. The cast is excellent, and I was much flattered that they wanted me to come and see the play. I was very happy to go backstage afterward and tell them how much I enjoyed it.

Saturday morning we took the train to Hyde Park, but instead of the expected sunshine it stayed rather gray and gloomy. This did not keep my son, John's young family from great activity. My son had the tractor out and he, with his wife and children, all started to fill the holes that have appeared in our dirt road during the winter. This is one of those endless jobs that goes on month after month all through the summer. You fill the holes, it rains, and everything you have put in is washed away. Everybody drives too fast over your road. We in the family are told that if we go more than 15 miles an hour we will have to pay a fine, but even we transgress at times.

The evening papers told us that the Soviets were making a peace bid, but I shall wait until further information arrives. It would be good news indeed if they were getting the Chinese to move toward a real armistice in Korea. But that is almost too good to be true.

Saturday evening I dined with Mrs. Tracy Dows and met Miss Lucrezia Bori. They had spent the afternoon at an Angus cattle sale at Alan Ryan's farm. Miss Bori, who spends much of her time raising money for the Metropolitan Opera, had never before been to a cattle auction and she came up for the weekend for the purpose of seeing one. She was fascinated by the people who attended. These included cowboys with high-heeled boots and ten-gallon hats, and men and women came from 27 states. The first bull sold for $50,000. The selling went on and brought various prices until finally they got down to small sums like a thousand or two. Then they sold some cows, but these unimportant females brought much lower prices!

Auctions on this scale I have never seen either. Mrs. Dows promised to let me know about future ones, and I only hope I shall be up here and free to go.

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1953, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]
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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 30, 1953

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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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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