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

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NEW YORK, Thursday—Tuesday morning, I had the great joy of breakfasting with our oldest son, and he had seen our youngest boy who is now somewhere at sea. It is exciting when a loved one appears out of space, so to speak, and even though you do not get much opportunity to talk, except at meals or in the middle of the night, since the rest of the day must be spent at the department, a glimpse gives you a chance to renew contacts and hear a great deal of news which never gets to you in letters.

On Tuesday afternoon I went to the annual Thrift Shop meeting and enjoyed a most interesting program. I returned home in time to see Mrs. Bernard Ryan from Albion, N. Y., who was in Washington for a day or two, and to greet my guests, who spent the night with me. They were six ladies representing church women and educators from different parts of the country, and were deeply interested in the war and its future effect on this country and the world.

After dinner, we saw the films which the President of Guatemala sent by me to my husband. Unfortunately my husband did not have time to see them before he left, but he will when he returns. I know he will be interested in the emphasis which is evidently being put on the improvement in education and health in Guatemala, as well as on training for military service. Some of their Indian contingents are particularly interesting as they wear native costume of the region with one or two modern military touches.

On Wednesday I took the midday train to Newark, N. J. and spoke at the Urban League dinner there. This is one of the organizations working throughout our country for better racial understanding between white and colored people. Because people of both races work together, I think it achieves very good results in many places. The Newark report for the past year is extremely encouraging, particularly from the industrial angle. This is the center of much industrial employment. Highly skilled Negro workers have been accepted and proved themselves valuable to industry and acceptable to their fellow workers.

From faraway Butte, Montana, some high school girls have written me that they think their age group might be used to make a real contribution to the war effort if some older people would sponsor them. They say that they know of young mothers who would gladly give several hours of volunteer service daily if their little children could be taken care of in places furnished by the community. The girls feel they could care for the children and do the necessary work after school hours. This doesn't seem such a bad idea, though of course it would have to be organized and supervised by older people. It would have the advantage of giving an opportunity for patriotic service to a group of young people who do not feel that their abilities are being used at present.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT 1944 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 14, 1944

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
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.

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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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