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

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HYDE PARK, Sunday—In spite of leading the gayest life socially since Mr. and Mrs. Gray have been with us, we manage to swim every day and I have an early morning ride. Many people have wanted to see Mr. and Mrs. Gray, so yesterday we went out both to lunch and tea. After lunch, Mr. Olin Dows showed us the drawings which he is making for the decorations in the new Rhinebeck post office and I think they are extremely interesting.

There is so much historical research necessary, which, carried through from the founding of a small town to the present day, gives a sense of perspective and shows the rapidity of change in our civilization. Right from the landing of the first sailing ship which came up the river and started the little settlement, we come to the automobile with all the intermediate stages of transportation shown in the decoration. There was a little difference of opinion between Mr. Dows and his mother as to the identity of one of the old portraits in their sitting room and he dashed out to find some old books with pictures in them. I can never decide who is who when I look at different portraits, for I don't think the old painters were very good in obtaining likenesses.

However, I am inclined to believe that Mrs. Dows is right in saying that the portrait which hangs in her living room is the portrait of Chancellor Livingston and the lady next to him is his mother. She looks like a determined old lady. I have no doubt that she was a great lady of her day, but the great ladies of those days must have done a good day's manual labor and I am sure she was capable of doing it and seeing that all those around her did it too!

On Friday afternoon we had one of those little excitements that occasionally enliven a quiet country afternoon. The telephone rang and Mrs. Moses Smith, our neighbor across the main road, announced rather excitedly that two of our horses were cavorting on her lawn. They were much too wild for her to do anything with them and she was afraid they would get to the main road and be hit by a car. I ran to find the man who takes care of them but could not locate him anywhere. In the meantime, Mrs. Smith telephoned again to say that her husband was in a hayfield far away and somebody must come at once.

Finally I found my man and, after I had started him over on foot, it occurred to me that I might hurry the process somewhat if I took him in my car, so I came back to get my car—but no key for the car! It wasn't in any of the places where I leave the key or anybody else is supposed to leave it. Then I found my uncle, Mr. Gray, reading peacefully on the porch. I must have looked somewhat excited for he asked if he could do anything for me. I responded: "If you could only find the key to my car!" He answered quietly: "I have the key in my pocket."

By the time I finally got over to Mrs. Smith's, the horses were caught and everything was calm.

E.R.

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


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

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


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 15, 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
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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