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

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BUZZARDS BAY, Mass., Wednesday —We started off from Westbrook, Conn., under gray skies yesterday morning, and before long the first drops of rain appeared on our windshield. It rained off and on all day. Curiously enough, this did not spoil the day, for we had no fog. By late afternoon, it cleared sufficiently for us to have lovely cloud effects with the most beautiful blending of grayish pink in the sky, which colored the water as well.

I stopped in Fall River, Mass., for I wanted to see Mrs. Louis Howe. I was lucky enough to find her at the post office. She took us up to her newly acquired home on the top of the ridge which overlooks the river. I am always deeply interested in seeing any of my friends' homes, so this was a nice break in our long drive.

In Fairhaven we drove through the streets of the old town in order to get a glimpse of the homestead built by my mother-in-law's grandfather, and which has always been a place of reunion for my husband's family.

We stopped under a big pine tree outside of Marion and ate our lunch in the car, for just at that moment the rain was coming down quite steadily. Then we started on our drive up the Cape, taking the south shore road on the way up. I like the Cape, and I think Wellfleet, Truro and Provincetown have a delightful atmosphere. We reached Provincetown early enough to drive slowly through the streets and around Land's End. The rain stopped and we enjoyed a view out to sea and the little narrow streets, which, by the way, were never designed for the modern automobile.

We spent the night at a little inn where we could get breakfast but no dinner, so we sallied forth for a walk and ended up at the "Flagship" where we had a very good seafood dinner. Every effort is made in this restaurant to make you feel that you are on board ship. The bar even is built to look like the side of a ship, and life preservers, ship's lanterns, etc., hang from the rafters. You pass a very attractive charcoal grill on the way in, but the most attractive spot in the big room is the enormous fireplace, where a roaring fire lights all the corners.

This is a friendly world and before long, the lady who runs this restaurant came to speak to me. Then a lady at a table behind me told me she came from Nyack, N. Y., and a man from Truro said he was a local reporter for the New York Times.

When I reached the street and walked past the community center, a group of boys recognized me and followed me around, even after it began to rain. Finally, I had to tell them I could not stop in at their club meeting, because I thought the rain was increasing and I had on clothes which had to be kept dry, for I travel rather light.

We are driving back along the north shore today. Over the radio yesterday, we heard the sad news of Colonel Harrington's death. It was really a great shock, for I thought of him as a young man and had not realized that he was seriously ill. It is sad to lose him, for good men can never be spared without regret and loss to their colleagues.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1940 BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Buzzards Bay (Barnstable County, Mass., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 3, 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

  • Brick, Christopher (Editor)
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  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate 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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