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

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday —Yesterday was a beautiful day in Los Angeles and the sun shone on the small wedding party gathered at Mr. and Mrs. George Converse's house. Their drawing room was a bower of flowers and the lunch afterwards was served in their patio. What kind and considerate hosts they were! These California houses are enchanting for a party of this kind, and it was a party of real friends who were happy in each other's joy.

It seems extraordinary, of course, to fly across the Continent and arrive at one's destination only a half hour late. Two of my children, who had flown from Seattle on Sunday, met me with Jimmy and his friend, Mr. Maurice Benjamin. Jimmy went off to do some necessary errands and Mr. Benjamin took Anna, John and me back to his house, where we talked hard until we had to dress and leave for the wedding.

Romelle looked charming, but one can have beauty and charm and lack character and sweetness. As I looked at her face yesterday, I decided that she has both character and sweetness. She will need them, poor child, in the weeks to come, for after two days leave, which is not to be taken more than three hours away from San Diego; Jimmy will report to San Francisco and leave from there for the Pacific.

Of course, Army and Navy wives are accustomed to these separations, but I have never found that they liked them. Romelle said firmly to me yesterday: "I am not thinking about James having to leave," but I knew that all too soon the time would come when she would have to think, and all of us know it can't be a very happy experience.

We saw them off with plenty of rice down their necks and in their hair. Then Anna, John and I went back to the Benjamins to sit in the sun for half an hour before we went to the afternoon plane. I boarded it a little after 4:30 and was delighted to find Mr. J. F. T. O'Connor seated opposite me. He came out to speak to Anna and John, and he and I had much pleasant conversation during the trip back. Mr. O'Connor is a grand story teller and has a fund of really delightful tales, which I wish I had the ability to remember and use as aptly as he does.

We came through an electrical storm in the night just before we landed at Dallas, Texas, but on the whole the trip was a smooth one. Again, to my great relief, we landed in Washington at 10:55, only fifteen minutes late. This column is being written in the automobile while I wait for the plane to arrive at 11:15 to take us to Greensboro, N.C., from whence we go to Charlotte, where I speak tonight.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1941, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, April 16, 1941

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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  • Black, Allida M. (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.

XML master last modified on June 9, 2017.

HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.

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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