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

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NEW YORK, Wednesday—The hunting accident, which happened to my daughter-in-law, Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt, Jr., yesterday, upset us all considerably. We must be grateful that she was not killed. I suppose one cannot blame the horse, for the ground is still somewhat slippery. To be laid up for some months is going to be very hard for Ethel. I hate to think of the pain and discomfort which she must go through. I suppose it is a great deal to ask, but I wish that all young married people with children would give up hunting. I know how much fun it must be for them and that they never expect any accident to happen, but to an old and timid person like myself to take risks seems unnecessary.

I suppose weeks in bed give us an opportunity for inner growth which nothing else might achieve and so, perhaps, this is one of the ways in which the Lord educates His children. When I was a child, we had an old nurse who used to say whenever anything particularly unfortunate happened to us: "Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth." Perhaps it is comforting to feel that whatever happens to us is probably intended to give us a chance for spiritual development.

I flew to New York City this morning on a very early plane, and the dentist and I have a rendezvous at noon! Easter is drawing near, so I must do some Easter shopping. Among other things, an article in the New York Herald-Tribune warns us against buying our children and grandchildren live chicks and bunnies for Easter, and suggests that the toy ones give just as much pleasure. I quite agree and can well understand why the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is fostering a campaign against this habit of giving children poor little defenseless animals at Easter. I never thought it was healthy for either the animals or the children, so I hope this campaign will be very successful. There is just one place where baby chicks and rabbits are permissable and that is on the farm.

Freedom from entertaining these days is really most refreshing. I spent the whole of yesterday doing extremely feminine things, such as having my hair done and going to tea with a friend. It seemed almost unheard of to have time for anything as leisurely and peaceful as that and we actually drove home through Rock Creek Park. Just because the air is warmer does not mean that the trees have begun to bud. I can't say that I saw many signs of spring.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1940, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, March 21, 1940

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.

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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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