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

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LOS ANGELES, Thursday—I have reached a point where I open the paper every morning with apprehension. I imagine everybody else in this country and in every other country in the world today, feels the same way. It seems incredible that human beings can risk another world upheaval when they realize what the last one meant to everyone. Human nature seems to require so much education before the lessons of history sink in!

Yesterday was a decidedly social day. I lunched with Mrs. Thomas Campbell, who had a few very delightful women to meet me. Then Mrs. Burdette, who was a friend of my old friend, the late Mrs. Perry Pennybacker, came in and we had a few minutes together. Many people, I am sure, often think of Mrs. Pennybacker and miss her, for she was such a vivid personality.

Mrs. Burdette told me a particularly charming incident about her. After Mrs. Pennybacker's death, Mrs. Burdette came across her last letter which said: "You are right, dear Mrs. Burdette, to take care of your health, for as long as we live, our personality counts." As I think about it, there are many people who are no longer active in the world's affairs, but whose personalities still count, so here is an excellent reason for trying to live on, even though our activities have to be curtailed.

Later we did some work on the mail. Then I saw Mr. J. F. T. O'Connor, who is very kindly arranging a pleasant motoring trip for us on Friday. At 6:00 o'clock, Mr. Orville Routt came to take me out to Pasadena to dine with his wife and some of their friends. They were a very interesting group and among them was Mrs. Will Rogers, whom I was very happy to see.

After the lecture we attended to a little more mail before we went to bed. We rejoiced in the luxury of a big room which did not rumble through the night. I really sleep extremely well to the sound of rumbling wheels or airplane engines and am never conscious of any real discomfort, but I do enjoy this change.

At 9:30 this morning, Mrs. Anne Winter, who had been my grandmother's companion and devoted friend for a number of years, dropped in to see me. A newspaper man from Long Beach came to ask a few pertinent questions. At 10:00, I started on a round of National Youth Administration Projects with Mrs. Treadwell and some of the other members of her staff. They have an interesting wood- working and sewing project here. Their intention is to duplicate the conditions of a real factory, so that their boys and girls may do professional work.

The Department of Education has horticultural work in which both boys and girls are getting very good training. A nursery school for colored children is affording valuable training to future mothers and girls who may obtain work taking care of children. Finally, a commercial art project was particularly interesting because it was set up on an absolutely businesslike basis.

Then I visited the Crippled Children's Hospital with one of the members of the board, Mrs. Harry Rhodes, and was delighted to see our old friend, Miss Helena Mahoney, who had been head physiotherapist at Warm Springs. She is well and strong again and hard at work. This hospital seemed almost perfect in its situation and equipment, and I was glad to have an opportunity to see it.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1938, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 18, 1938

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
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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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