MY DAY
By Eleanor Roosevelt
August 1, 1941
Eastport, Maine, Thursday –
We had another bright and sunny day yesterday, when it was hard to realize that we could be so far north, for the sun is really hot while it lasts.
Our first guests to arrive were Dr. John Studebaker and Mr. Hardy Steeholm. We met them at the ferry and their first introduction to this part of the world was a walk over slippery seaweed and pools of water. However, they approached the island in a spirit of adventure and when they were told that they could not even be taken to the cottage where they were staying until after the morning lecture, they accepted the routine without a murmur. They came and listened to Mr. Roger Baldwin and the discussion that followed with the young people, on the necessity for the spread of democracy because of the difficulty of living in a world where different ideas and ideals hold sway.
About 10 o’clock, my cousin, Mr. Monroe Douglas Robinson, arrived, having driven from Bangor, Maine. He joined us out on the lawn. He has taken two days out of the short time before he returns to Peru to come up here with us and I have been interested to watch his ability to make the young people talk. I always remember hearing that, during the World War, his soldiers were devoted to him. I think the quality which makes the men in your regiment like you is a quality which makes you get on well with youth. You have to be interested in them and they respond in a most satisfactory manner.
The afternoon lecture was given by Dr. Eagleton of New York University. In the evening, Dr. Studebaker told us briefly about his work as Commissioner of Education in Washington, and some of his plans for adult education. The young people were very much interested and carried on the discussion until after 10 o’clock, when they broke up into little groups.
It is amusing to see how little the generations really change. This house and the house at Hyde Park have housed groups of young people ever since the year that my husband and I were married. My brother came to live with us then and the boys who were his friends are now carrying heavy responsibilities. Some of them are distinguished today in their professions or are serving their country in one way or another.
But just as years ago they could talk far into the night around the fire, so these young people can forget that tomorrow does surely dawn and they even listen to the radio news at midnight with a feeling that the evening has just begun.
I am just leaving to take some of my guests to Quoddy to see the NYA resident project there.
August 2, 1941
Eastport, Maine, Friday –
World events seem to be moving in more satisfactory fashion these days. One cannot help hoping that sometime before long we may read that people who once thought that war was the only way to bring about satisfactory solutions to world difficulties may have reached the conclusion that there are possibilities of mutual cooperation. Acceptance of the fact that we are dependent upon each other, not only as individuals but as nations, for our well-being and that the ultimate solution of world problems will require a willingness to agree to this precept, seems the first step forward toward a peaceful world.
In these closing days of the International Student Service Institute here, the question of the way to make Democracy meet not only our own needs, but world needs, has been discussed by Dr. Eagleton and the students. Much interest and real thinking on the problem, I hope, will result.
I have, of course, spent a very short time with this group of young people and I have nothing whatsoever to do with the running of the institute. But one finds oneself receiving certain impressions. I have found first that after five weeks of hard work there is no real lessening of interest in the study of what democracy means and of how, as individuals, we can function to make democracy meet the needs of all the people.
Dr. Neilson has made a deep impression on all of us. Perhaps the students who have been under his direction at Smith College will understand what I mean when I say that these young men and women have sensed the benediction of his presence. It is character that really gets across to other people and there has been a recognition of the fineness and the gentleness of a human being who has lived up to his ideals and used his abilities to the utmost. Example is far better than precept.
In addition, I think Mr. Joseph Lash, who has really done the day-by-day management of detail and curriculum on which hangs much of the success of an undertaking such as this, has gained the respect and the affectionate cooperation of all the young people under his care in a way which is only possible when there is realization of a fine spirit. People grow through experiences, if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built and young people recognize this ability to grow in those with whom they come in contact.
I think the students will leave here tomorrow with the feeling that they have gained something enduring from their association with Dr. Neilson and Mr. Lash which will remain an inspiration for better living in their own lives.
August 4, 1941
Portland, Maine, Sunday –
I forgot to tell you that on Friday afternoon our whole group of the International Student Service went over to Penguin Island, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bernhardt. After a wonderful swim in their pool, we had coffee and doughnuts, which disappeared with astounding rapidity. The party was so successful that all the way home the young people were expressing their appreciation of the hospitality shown them.
On Friday night, it seemed to me that we would never get everyone to bed. Like all young people, they left their packing to be done at the last minute. On this last evening, they had prepared an entertainment with graduation certificates, specially written by the entertainment committee for each student. By the time the applause, the songs and the cheers were over, and the packing and the last minute conversations had begun, it was well after 11:00 p.m.
However, somehow or other, everyone made breakfast at 6:30 yesterday morning. Saturday was a sad day of leave-taking, but it had its funny moments as well. Dr. and Mrs. Eagleton went off with their car loaded with young people, whom they very kindly offered to take back with them.
The two Seattle, Wash., boys, with their car, took two others with them and started for Washington, DC, and a sightseeing trip on the way. My mother-in-law’s car, loaded to its full capacity, took others to the train, and the boat took still more across to Eastport, where they caught a day bus.
The laughter over the bags that couldn’t be fitted in, the mock serious horseplay, that is always a part of those tense moments when young people are really moved but do not want to show it, finally ended. We suddenly found ourselves in a very quiet house, with only eight young people left. They were grand workers and helped us put the house to rights and to pick up the things which had been forgotten.
Then we had lunch and a leisurely talk before two of them departed with another friend, who was motoring down through the White Mountains and offered to take them along. Six others went over to Eastport by boat to take the evening bus to Boston, Massachusetts.
Finally, three of us were left alone, feeling like very small peas in a very large pod, but suddenly conscious of a peace and quiet never part of one’s existence when one is in the midst of a crowd. We had supper with my mother-in-law and spent a quiet evening. This morning, bright and early, we started on our drive home.
August 5, 1941
New York, Monday –
We spent a good part of yesterday driving through not only the heaviest rain I have ever seen, but a hailstorm! I began to wonder if the hailstones would come through the top of my car, since they were bouncing off the hood to the ground and hitting hard against our windows. I could not help feeling sorry for the farmers, for it must have done much damage to their crops.
Finally, a little after 1 o’clock, we found a place to turn off the road and managed to eat a picnic lunch in the car while the storm wore itself out. After that, it rained very heavily until fairly late in the afternoon, but no more hail came down.
When we stopped for gas, just before 7:00, the friendly garage man said that their storm had been chiefly wind and rain. His wife came out of the station and asked if I was Mrs. Roosevelt, saying she had recognized me, but the girls there insisted I could not be myself!
A little after 7:00, we stopped for dinner at Lamie’s, which is on the corner of the road that goes to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. They have very good food, but the crowd was so great that I wondered whether it would be worth waiting fifteen minutes for a table.
We decided that on a Sunday evening every restaurant would be crowded, and finally we sat down to a very good dinner. The proprietor said he had never had so busy a summer. On Saturday they had 3,000 people and they closed at 3:00 a.m. and opened again at 6:00 the next morning. He told me that, like many other places, they use college boys and girls to wait on table, but have a regular staff as well and are busy all through the winter.
We did not intend to stop in Boston, but it seemed to be the only place where we could find accommodations, so we spent the night at the Statler Hotel. Providence sometimes is kind, for I found a message there to call one of my sons who has his orders and is off tomorrow for some time. If I had not come to Boston, I would have missed saying goodbye.
I have been hearing lately how much women pilots are doing in England. They ferry planes to places of safety when they are not in use, and fill in so that men can get some rest when duty is neither combat duty nor dangerous service. I wonder if, in this country, in the CAA courses or in the services, we have begun to train women so they may perform such duties. It would seem to be wise to give women pilots this opportunity, since we know they have been so useful in other countries.
August 6, 1941
New York, Tuesday –
Yesterday was beautiful and we enjoyed our drive from Boston to New York City. We had a nice picnic lunch by the side of a little brook, quite the perfect place at which to eat. With a late start, however, we did not reach New York City until about 4:15. It was rather nice to walk into our little apartment there and to find the beds all turned down and everything clean and ready for us tonight.
We went out to dine and then to the theatre to a musical show, Panama Hattie. All winter my friends have been telling me how entertaining it is, and I thought that after some weeks in the country the young people with me would enjoy something light and amusing.
I was amused by the picture in the World-Telegram last night of everyone trying to buy silk stockings. I must say I like silk stockings very much, and it will be very sad when those I have are worn out. I plan to be particularly careful with my evening ones, for I think I shall mind most when they are gone. I envy my daughters in-law, who frequently go without stockings.
Probably, because I am old-fashioned, I can’t quite get accustomed to that, except in the country in the daytime. However, I grew up when cotton stockings were very much in vogue and remember when fine lisle and cotton mesh were really very nice and considered most becoming. So, perhaps, we shall all find some consolation in the changes which are forced upon us.
I wonder whether you noticed something which interested me very much. A Chinese botanist, in spite of the war, is still travelling and collecting in Gansu Province, northwestern China, for the Smithsonian Institution. He has found a real Shangri-La in an inaccessible mountain fastness, flowers which are every color of the rainbow from June until August.
It all sounds inconceivably far away and out of the world of struggle between Japan and China. Somehow it gives one a sense of the vastness of that country, which goes on its way calmly and which will probably continue developing its civilization through the ages, despite the fact that Japan may nibble at the edges of China.
It may be just another newspaper story, which I read yesterday morning, about a young German aviator turning against his own side and fighting with the Russians and then coming down and surrendering to them. His explanation was that some of the men in his division had been killed because they expressed some anti-Nazi opinions.
If it should happen to be true, it is a very encouraging piece of news, for in such ways do movements begin to crack. What is going on now in the world must be beaten from within as well as from without.
August 7, 1941
Hyde Park, Wednesday –
I returned to Hyde Park yesterday in time for a swim and a nice, cool dinner on the porch. Then came long hours of work at my desk, catching up with the mail.
Yesterday, in New York City, was given over in great part to seeing various people, after which I visited the hairdresser, a very feminine occupation.
I was glad to see that the House of Representatives, in considering the tax bill, did not accept the idea of joint income tax returns for husband and wife. I realize that this might bring in a higher revenue, for it would frequently put the tax returns in the group where surtaxes make the tax much higher.
However, it seems to me that some other way of obtaining money would be wiser than a measure which strikes at the roots of a fundamental principle, which we in this country have been establishing over a long period of years; the right of women to be considered as persons. There was a time when a woman married and her property became her husband’s, her earnings were her husband’s and the control of the children was never in her hands.
The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long-standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it. In a lighter vein, it has been said that this bill is an encouragement to immorality. But that, of course, is said only by those who believe that the way to make people conscious of anything, is to make it preposterous. It might, however, prove to be a real deterrent to the work of women, and that brings us to another rather fundamental question.
Do we believe that work of any kind, honestly performed, creates work? If so, then it is an advantage to have every individual using his abilities productively. It is true that machines have taken over the work of human hands to a great extent, but the real problem before us is how to make the work of the machines a benefit to human beings and not a detriment.
I do not think that, fundamentally, the way to solve the problem is to say that people should grow lazy and not use what abilities and wits a kindly Providence may have given them. I realize that this is a question which can be argued from many points of view and this column is too short to cover it adequately. I am only trying to point out the fact that we have some decisions to make in the future, and we had better think them through intelligently and make sure of what we really believe.
August 8, 1941
Hyde Park, Thursday –
Yesterday was a particularly pleasant and uneventful day. A friend came with her little daughter to lunch, and we swam and sat about in the sun for a while.
In the evening, I read aloud Mr. David Cushman Coyle’s little book, America. He has gathered together in brief form many of the arguments which most of us find convincing today in our outlook on world and domestic affairs. I think this short recapitulation will prove of value to schools and colleges as well as individual readers.
A letter has just come to me which I want to quote and answer in this column:
Referring to a recent “My Day” article, the following is your statement:
In the United States there are many areas where children cannot get to school and besides there are many families who have no clothes for their children.
For more than eight years, your husband has been the directing head of the United States and his announced policy on taking office was the “forgotten man.”
With the information you must have on the matter I have quoted, I would be pleased to have your explanation as to why such conditions continue to exist in the United States.
Your explanation, I think, should have the same amount of publicity as your original statement.
The answer seems to me fairly simple. This administration has put on the statute books a great deal of social legislation. Much of it was passed in opposition to the desires of many people, who honestly believed that conditions would return to what they once were and that it is a mistake to try to find new ways to adjust to new conditions. Experience alone can prove whether plans undertaken can have permanent value or not.
Some of them have already been in operation long enough to prove themselves. Others are in process of trial. The social security program as a whole, housing, WPA and NYA have all been factors in meeting the needs of what my correspondent calls the “forgotten man.”
To wipe out, however, all injustices and inequalities in our democracy, to make in a period of twelve years a decent corner of the world for everyone to live, in the face of world conditions such as have existed, is beyond the hope of even the most sanguine. We can only be grateful for the fact that more people are aware of the problems of forgotten children as well as forgotten men and women, and that we are working together to make our corner of the world a better place for all of us to live.
August 9, 1941
Hyde Park, Friday –
I took my annual pilgrimage last night to Stockbridge, Mass., to hear the fourth program of the Berkshire Music Festival. In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Mozart’s death, excerpts were played from his requiem mass. His Symphony in G Minor was also played and, after the intermission, the Beethoven Eroica.
The chorus of the Berkshire Musical Association, of which Horace Hunt is the conductor, sang the mass and the whole program was a most finished and beautiful performance. I enjoyed every minute of it. Even though we did not return until rather late, for it takes us two hours to drive from here, still it was well worth it.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Serge Koussevitzky for a few minutes during the intermission. My admiration for his work increases every year.
On the way up, we met Mrs. Henry Morgenthau Jr. and her daughter Joan, and had a picnic supper together in a field on a dirt road leading off from Route 7, before we reached Great Barrington. One of the boys with us carelessly put his hand on the wire which surrounded part of the field we were in and discovered that it was charged. I suppose it was intended to keep erring cattle who attempted to jump the fence, within proper limits.
We picked up everything very carefully like good Boy Scouts, not even leaving chicken bones about, for fear the dogs or cattle might find them. We were very grateful for the nice, grassy spot under the shade of a tree and the view of the gently flowing stream below us.
I have just been told that there is a great shortage of young women entering the nursing schools. At this time nurses are much needed, and it has always seemed to me that it is good training for any girl to take, whether she means to take up nursing as a profession or not. At the present time, the girls in training release nurses already trained, for duty where they are needed.
If later, these girls marry, or have no reason for earning a living by nursing, but wish to serve in some way in their community, there are innumerable opportunities to use the knowledge they have acquired in the service of a great many people. Therefore, if any young woman feels she wishes to do something for her country in the present crisis, and is willing to work hard, put in long hours, and sacrifice her leisure during these years of stress, I can think of few things as useful as taking a course in one of our good training schools for nurses.
August 11, 1941
Hyde Park, Sunday –
I woke today to a strong breeze and, for a moment, thought that autumn was already with us. The trees were blowing and the air had a snap almost like September. I was beginning to feel really melancholy, when I remembered that August occasionally gives us days like these to remind us that our summer days are drawing to a close and we must enjoy them to the full.
That reminded me of a quotation which came to me in a letter the other day from a young man who used to work with an airline and with whom Franklin Jr. and I once went on a special trip to Chicago. This young man is now in the Army and seems to be getting much out of his military service. The explanation of his success may lie in the fact that this quotation appeals to him:
Today is your day and mine:
The only day we have;
The day in which we play our part,
What our part may signify in the great world we may not understand,
But we are here to play it and now is our time.(David Starr Jordan)
We spent a quiet day yesterday. In the afternoon, Mr. C. R. Smith, President of the American Airlines, came in time for a swim, and then we all went to dine with Secretary and Mrs. Morgenthau.
The Women’s Democratic Club of Hyde Park gave its annual card party on our picnic grounds. I went down to greet them and found myself signing quite a number of books which had been given as prizes for the card games.
This is a day for walking in high places. I am sure that the view from the top of the hill will be clear and far flung, so that is where I am going.
A friend of mine in Connecticut has just sent me a record of the accomplishments of the CCC camps in that state. It is an impressive list of achievements and one does not wonder that he feels sad at the realization that a carefully built supervisory personnel has practically disintegrated because there is at present such a cut in the number of CCC boys.
I wonder if those men rejected for Army service might not be greatly improved in health, if they could receive basic medical care and then be assigned to CCC camp work for a while. It also seems necessary, however, to change some of the opportunities offered and give boys in CCC a chance for training as well as for work on forest and conservation projects.
August 12, 1941
Hyde Park, Tuesday –
A number of guests are coming to lunch with us today. The day began early, for we motored over to the New Hackensack flying field to see two guests off by air for New York City. The house seems a little quiet as we settle down to do some of the work which is always on our desks.
People seem to be sending me all kinds of information these days. The various fields covered give one a faint inkling of what it means to belong to a nation of 150,000,000 people, all of whom are as full of personal interests and individuality as possible.
I must have said something in my column the other day that implied that Tacoma, Wash., was not doing enough for the entertainment of the soldiers in the nearby area. A few days ago I received a wire from Mr. Bennie Crann, of the Tacoma Philharmonic Orchestra, telling me that my readers will undoubtedly be glad to know that all soldiers in uniform from Fort Lewis and Fort McChord Field, will be admitted free this month to three concerts in which Helen Jepson, Marie Louise Quevli and Mona Paulee are being presented with the orchestra at the Tacoma Stadium.
I am sure my readers are glad, just as I am, every time they hear of something which is being done in any community by any individual or by an organization to give our boys, wherever they may be, pleasure and entertainment in their hours of freedom.
However, I didn’t mean to imply, that all communities had not been doing whatever they could do. I simply hope that all of us will grasp every opportunity to be of service to both the families and the men in our armed forces.
I want to congratulate the Jewish Braille Review, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. This magazine was founded primarily to meet the cultural and spiritual needs of the Jewish blind but it has from the first been sent free to many non-Jewish readers as well. Today there are as many Christians of various denominations as there are people of the Jewish faith enjoying this unique magazine, which serves the needs of the blind.
Helen Keller has always been one of those to whom this magazine has meant something of real value. I think all of us who realize the limitations of the blind are grateful for each thing which is done to widen the horizon of their possible activities.
August 13, 1941
Hyde Park, Tuesday –
Mr. Emilio Delboy, who is a feature writer for some Peruvian newspapers, came with my cousin, Mr. Monroe Robinson, to lunch yesterday and was a delightful guest. He kept assuring me that he understood all that was said, but that his own English was so limited that he could not express his appreciation of the opportunity to spend these few hours with us.
I kept assuring him that if I found myself with a group of Spanish speaking people, I would have been far less articulate than he was and not as understanding. When I am given plenty of time, I can read simple Spanish, but I cannot say one sentence.
After lunch, I took three gentlemen, Mr. W. Colston Leigh, Mr. Robinson and Mr. Delboy over to see the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, and they were very much interested in the various collections.
Monday being the day when the library is closed, I felt very guilty when I looked up to see a group of girls from the Dominican Fathers Camp, gazing at me through the windows as we walked about. A little later I went out and sat in the car, waited for the others and read my newspaper.
All the girls gathered around me and took photographs and just gazed at me while I tried to find out if there was any special thing they wanted to talk about. There did not seem to be, and so they started off on their hike back to camp. We returned to the cottage in time for a short chat before our guests had to leave on the afternoon train.
Then a young man came to see me and brought me a copy of a song which he had written. He had spent some time in various veterans’ hospitals and was concerned in this emergency to do what he could with other American veterans to help some of the English wounded. He hoped his song would contribute to the support of St. Dunstan’s, which is a very remarkable school for the blind.
This morning we left fairly early, crossed the river at Highland, and travelled up on its west side to the Pioneer Youth Camp. I have long been interested in this camp, which is supported partly by contributions from union labor organizations, partly by youngsters who can pay, and partly by private individuals who give contributions.
The camp has been run on interesting lines. The attempt is always made to let the children develop themselves through working out projects and interests of their own. Many of them come from the city and have never had any contact with country life. To see a cow milked, to set a hen and see the chicks hatch out, to find out about a water system, or make a topographical map of their own surroundings, is an entirely new experience and a very thrilling one.
August 14, 1941
Hyde Park, Wednesday –
After our visit to the Pioneer Youth Camp yesterday, we motored on up to Camp William James. There a group of young people are trying to find out the value of working with their hands. At the same time, they are deciding their evaluation of future occupations.
They want to know what they really do want out of life, what they think democracy means, what they can do to help develop their country and make it strong in democratic principles.
Some of the young people who worked here are at present working in Mexico with a group of young Mexicans in the territory where the earthquake created such havoc. Others are now in the Army, but wherever they go, they carry with them the results of this experience. I think they will lead more interesting lives, because they have set themselves to find the reasons for their beliefs and to translate into daily living their ideas and ideals.
The drive up was very beautiful and we found another route to follow coming down, which gave us a variety of scenery.
Last February, there was held in Washington an Institute of Rural Youth Guidance. In this institute the following organizations cooperated, The Alliance for the Guidance of Rural Youth; The American Youth Commission; The Harlan County (Kentucky) Planning Council; The National Education Association; The National Youth Administration; The United States Department of Agriculture; The United States Employment Service; The United States Office of Education.
I have just received a report of the proceedings and a “suggested plan of action.” These pamphlets are going to be distributed by the agencies interested to those concerned with this problem in various parts of the country. I hope that many newspapers in rural areas, particularly the country weekly papers, will quote many of the recommendations.
There is a great deal of emphasis laid on the possibilities in selective service for training which may be given these young men while in the Army, which will be valuable to them when they return to civilian life. I know that this is true, for one boy from my own county writes me that he has been assigned to radio work, which is something he has wanted to study for a long time. Let us hope that this will be the experience of many of the boys now being inducted into service from rural areas.