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

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HYDE PARK, Wednesday—We drove from New York City yesterday morning in the rain, and it was not until we were in Tivoli for the funeral service of my cousin, Mrs. Henry Parish, at 3 p.m. that the rain stopped. The small group which had gathered for the funeral service were all old friends or distant relatives. Even though the service was held at the grave I went inside the old church which I had not visited since my childhood days when I lived at Tivoli with my grandmother. I remember driving to church with her in a large and lumbering victoria, and having to sit on a little seat facing my elders, hating every minute of that five mile drive. It seemed so long and I had to sit so still!

I am afraid in those days, I did not realize how really interesting are the tablets in St. Paul's Church, Tivoli. There is one to Chancellor Livingston and one to his brother, Edward P. Livingston. As you looked at the tablets and wandered around the churchyard you realized how very largely this community represented one family with its branches extending out to many communities. There still are descendents living in the community, and they were present for the last service of a member of the clan.

I came back to Hyde Park to find my grandchildren swimming in the pool, and it seemed very fitting to see the end of life and the beginning of life so closely brought together in a day. Here are the children who come from the background of those who lie in the peaceful churchyard. God grant they acquit themselves as well as the best of the ancestors, and are spared the weaknesses of some of the others. A heritage of charm and beauty certainly existed in the Livingston, Ludlow, Tonnele, and Hall families, and that one can hope the younger generation will have in plenty.

It was certainly encouraging news in the morning papers yesterday that we are beginning to get a little more support in the air and even on the ground in Korea. In the long run, of course, the power of production in the USA will be the deciding factor, but it takes time to bring into play and to make it an effective defense for the men who are put into the field, without all the mechanical aids that they are entitled to have from a nation like ours.

I have not had much chance to get the reactions of the younger generation on the present situation. Last Friday when I went out to Orange in the tube a young man recognized me and sat down beside me to talk. He said that from his point of view the Administration had done exactly the right thing, and a young taxi driver who took me to the tube turned and said: "Well, I may be back in the Army but I'm glad we did the right thing."

E. R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1950, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Persons
Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 13, 1950

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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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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