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

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NEW YORK—I received a number of perfectly delightful books for Christmas and one, in four volumes entitled "The Diary of George Templeton Strong," covers the period from 1835 to 1875.

I don't think I will have time to read this until the middle of next summer, but as I look through it I feel sure it is going to be one of the things which will give me the greatest pleasure. It seems to have delightful recollections and anecdotes of old New York. It is a book, however, that one can only read at leisure.

As a book of reference, I am perfectly delighted to have a new book entitled "The Shaping of American Diplomacy," edited by William Appleman Williams and published by Rand McNally. It will be invaluable to "students of history, international relations, foreign affairs, government business, economics, and finance."

There are 1,130 pages which, I think, combine well the presentation of documented information and a rounded point of view on a variety of subjects. Besides, the book contains well-chosen documents and speeches by statesmen, from Thomas Paine to General MacArthur. For those who want their libraries to contain books in which they can find information when needed, it will certainly be an invaluable volume.

I have Mrs. Charles Ulrick Bay to thank for sending me a little book about her husband who died last year. He was a successful business man, a humanitarian and finally ambassador to Norway from 1946 to 1953, returning to the country from which his family came.

He took a deep interest in Norway and its people, and he was much beloved as our ambassador there. He worked hard to develop and retain good relationships between Norway and the United States and I think he succeeded extremely well.

The booklet sent me by Mrs. Bay, his widow, not only tells of his life but of the memorial fountain which was presented on June 29, 1956 to the City of Drobak, Norway, in memory of Ambassador Bay's father, who was born there.

A Norwegian sculptor, Ornulf Bast, created the fountain, which portrays a young, handsome Norwegian boy standing with a wild tern in the open palm of his hand. The boy faces the future with courage, wonder and expectation written on his face. The tern, poised for flight on the boy's open palm, symbolizes freedom. Around the outer edge of the basin six bronze birds are poised for flight, and the fountain provides a wading pool for the children of the town.

I wish Ambassador Bay had lived to present the fountain himself, but he unfortunately died before this was accomplished. It will, however, be a constant reminder to future young Norwegians that there was an American whose family came from Norway and who cared very much for the land of his ancestors, wishing that this land and his own United States of America should always remain friends.

E.R.

(Copyright, 1956, by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, December 29, 1956

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
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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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