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

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As I haven't time to ride, I am trying to train Jack to walk in the streets and I came down Connecticut Avenue yesterday at a pace which I certainly would not have held had I been entirely on my own steam, but with a large red setter dog at the end of a leash I made very good time!

It was gray and looked like snow all day yesterday but today is a gorgeous day. Blue sky and not too cold. I am driving down to a place about fifteen miles this side of Richmond to visit two friends of mine, an American and a Russian who is now an American citizen. The American has been studying in Richmond in order to get a degree which will enable her to teach some of the social sciences She has all the practical experience necessary, for she worked eight years in Russia for the Quakers, came back on a holiday, found conditions in this country very interesting and settled down to work for the Quakers again in the mining regions of West Virginia. Later she was made welfare commissioner for the county and headed up most of the emergency relief work.

That is where I first knew her and I think I was attracted to her primarily because of the fact that even though she was a Quaker, she could show righteous indignation. Some very charming ladies who had spent a short time in Russia were telling her one day of the virtues of the Russian system and to my keen amusement, she completely lost her temper and practically told them they knew nothing about it!

She finally resigned her job because of political pressure but I can think of no one I would rather have young people study with, for she could illustrate from personal experience many of the theories which mean so little when taught from books.

There was very little traffic on the road and we made very good time. Our directions were so good we found the house without any difficulty. Lunch was ready on our arrival and we had Russian tea which always seems to me much like my own special brand and those very delicious Russian rolls filled, this time, with ham and cabbage though they can be filled with anything you desire. They had another Russian friend staying with them, and taking out her guitar she sang for us one or two Russian songs which had been favorites of Count Tolstoy's. Then a walk along the banks of a charming little river and it was time to start back for Washington.

Here we are again after a really delightful day.

E.R.



About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 5, 1936

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

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
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  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
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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.

XML master last modified on June 9, 2017.

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 December 4, 1936, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 4 December 1936, AERP, FDRL