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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

DETROIT—I remember the crowd in Chicago in 1932 and the torches nearly choked us because the fumes got into the closed cars and made it difficult to breathe. Last night we were spared the torches which was fortunate because there were many more people out.

The three places which stand out in my mind as having the most marvelously trained police horses and I suppose that means also very well trained riders, are Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. Last night amidst an enthusiastic crowd, some of those horses stood like statues while others moved exactly as their riders with leg and rein directed, but no sign of nervousness or excitement was visible.

After we got back to the train, Mrs. Scheider, Miss Chaney and I had planned to meet and go straight to a hotel for a bath. But in some way the cars went to different entrances at the station and I could not find them. Leaving word with everyone possible as to where they would find me, I jumped into a taxi and made for the Blackstone Hotel.

My taxi driver was quite willing to talk and remarked that it had been a wonderful turn out of people. I asked him if he remembered "thirty-two" and if he thought the people last night were better dressed, better fed and happier looking, which was my own impression. He promptly agreed with me and added that he himself was making a much better living than he had been able to make in "thirty-two", which was encouraging information because he was doubtless only one of many.

The others found me soon, and then soon other friends ferreted us out, and finally Mr. Freeman Gosden, (Amos) came with his car and drove us back to the train.

Having lost an hour last night we were lazy this morning and went to the diner at nine. I got just what I deserved. It was nine-thirty and we were drawing into Grand Rapids and all we had had for breakfast was orange juice. I do not like going out without my coffee but I did and we drove around Grand Rapids and my husband made a short speech so that it was a quarter to eleven before we got back on the train and finished our breakfast!

The two candidates should have met this morning for their trains crossed! They have apparently covered many of the same cities though I do not think my husband is stopping quite as often.

The thing I miss on a trip of this kind is the opportunity for any form of exercise. One can't even get a walk up and down the platform, because everywhere we stop there are crowds and we have to appear on the back platform. Our right arms, however, should be stronger at the end of this for both of us have waved them for many hours!

E.R.


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
Geographic
  • Detroit (Mich., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 16, 1936

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

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

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ISNI ]
  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]

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.

XML master last modified on May 2, 2022.

HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.

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 October 15, 1936, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 15 October 1936, AERP, FDRL