If You Ask Me
by Eleanor Roosevelt

I haven't been invited to the British Coronation. No, I am afraid I will not be able to go to England at that time.

I did not know I was kidding anyone. I was preserving the amenities. When you shake hands you usually smile. To reach our seats in the General Assembly we have to pass directly in front of the Russian and the United Kingdom delegates. I have known Mr. Gromyko for a long time, and the newspaper photographers

I believe as long as we serve in the General Assembly, or anywhere in the United Nations, we must be polite to one another, and we must be able to talk to one another in the hope that someday this bridge will be used for the benefit of a peaceful settlement of our difficulties.

In all the years of my husband's political life I never remember hearing him make such a rash statement: therefore, I would hesitate to say what he might feel if he were with us today.

You might point out to your students that if two of them had a quarrel in which each held a very different point of view it might take a long while to find a point which would make enough sense to both to persuade them to stop fighting. In the case of Korea the United Nations has taken the stand that prisoners who do not wish to be returned to their country of origin will not be coerced. So far the North Koreans and the Chinese Communists, backed by the Russians, have been unwilling to accept this stand. Negotiations go on, and we hope that someday, perhaps even by the time this answer appears, a way will be found which is acceptable to all.

I think you can do it if you do it lightly and with a certain amount of amusement. You can tease youngsters about not knowing how to be careful of things which you like to have treated with consideration. I have learned, however, that as long as one has young people around it is well not to have too many things that are easily injured.

In some states there is a law or a rule, if I remember rightly, that there shall be no religious teaching in public schools. Your principal probably thinks that since your school is made up of children belonging to a variety of religions it is wiser not to start any religious clubs. I think it is best for all of us to get the major part of our religious teaching and example at home and through our churches.

Not having been on the spot, I find it difficult to say why the guard ordered you away. Ordinarily the U.N. guards are most polite and considerate about the desires of visitors. Did you ask permission to take a photograph, or was there a crowd at the time so that the guard was trying to keep people moving? I cannot understand why there might have been any rudeness.