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

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NEW YORK, Monday—I almost went to sleep Friday evening on the drive over from Woodstock to London, Ontario, probably because the day had been fairly long. However, we were greeted on arrival by Col. and Mrs. Leonard, who had waited up till twelve o'clock for their late guests to appear. And they even had refreshments waiting for us!

Mrs. Leonard is a Philadelphian and many years ago stayed on Campobello Island with some of the other charming Philadelphia people who came there in summer. When she knew I was coming here she asked me to spend the night with her and talk over old times. As a result I have been reminded of names and people and happenings which had almost slipped away from me, and Miss Corr and I had a very pleasant and comfortable night with these kind and thoughtful hosts.

Saturday morning I was taken at 10:30 to the newspaper office. London is quite a big city, and it has a newspaper office which also houses the radio and TV stations for this area. The people interested in work for the U.N. here had asked if I would do a short broadcast for them, but when it was finally set up I was doing two short TV "spots" and three short broadcasts, one for the U.N. group, one for the women and one just of general interest! All this took well over an hour.

When I returned, I found a Mr. Max Lerner waiting for me, to tell me about an organization he had formed with the purpose of inculcating in people the value of our democratic freedoms. I could hardly wait to ask him if he was any relation to Max Lerner in New York, whereupon he told me this amusing story.

Some years ago when one of our Max Lerner's books came out, people stopped Mr. Max Lerner of Ontario and said to him: "You have lived here all these years and you have hidden from us that you are an author. How could you have kept this achievement from your neighbors?" Mr. Lerner was a little bewildered until he realized they were talking about the American Max Lerner's book. When he tried to explain that he was not an author he met complete incredulity. His neighbors thought it was a farfetched idea to say there was another Max Lerner in the United States.

Mrs. Leonard had a delightful luncheon on Saturday and I enjoyed it immensely. Then I went downtown for a few minutes to meet with a group of older people, sponsored by the Soroptimist Club. The Soroptimist Club was responsible for my lecture on Saturday night. This club has two main interests. One is to establish a center for older people—a place where they can meet and sing together, and read and play games; and develop new interests; and find an answer to some of their problems of loneliness and too much leisure. The second interest is in scholarships for teenagers. I hope the club raises all the money it needs to help along these activities.

I went for a short time to a very delightful press club tea, and at 6 o'clock we attended a dinner. Then, after my lecture, we caught the train for Poughkeepsie.

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, September 14, 1954

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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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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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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