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

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—Back at the White House last night, we had a very jolly small party to celebrate Bobby Fitzmaurice's birthday which was already long past! My husband insisted that Bobby was forty-five and that I should have put forty-five candles on the cake, whereas I refuse ever to put more than twenty-one candles on anyone's cake! My husband was the lucky one as usual, and drew the good luck emblem from his piece of cake.

After dinner I went over to a meeting of the U.S.S. Jacob Jones Post Number Two of the American Legion to talk to them on the subject of girls' clubs. The City of Washington is gradually building up a fairly comprehensive system of boys' clubs covering different parts of the City under the auspices of the Police Department led by Major Brown. These clubs for the boys supplement the "Y's" and Boy Scouts and in starting them the most congested localities with the least recreational opportunities are chosen. I have a feeling that while the YWCA and the Girl Scouts render great service to the girls also, that something perhaps a little less elaborate than what is done for the boys, might be helpful in the case of many girls. These American Legion ladies seemed much interested and I think perhaps they may be able to find out whether there is any need for any thing of this kind and whether it could be done.

The storm last evening was more violent than I realized for when Bobby Baker and I sallied forth at seven o'clock this morning, branches, both small and large, lay all over the ground. The first part of the bridle path leads through the tents which are being put up to accommodate the Boy Scout Jamboree and here the storm played havoc. Tents were down, wires sagged, roofs were off the little temporary wooden buildings and my horse who has grown accustomed to seeing everything in good order, kept looking in startled fashion at the strange new shapes created by the fallen canvass along the sides of the road.

A rather pathetic young woman came to see me before lunch with a long letter from her congressman telling all about a very distinguished father's achievements. Unfortunately, however, positions in and out of the government are not obtainable on one's father's record, and just at present government offices are cutting down and not adding to their staffs. She has a mother to support and I will acknowledge that I felt fairly hopeless as I suggested that she try to find some work in private industry. Of course, I shall try to help her but sometimes I feel almost as helpless as the poor young things themselves.

A very delightful Miss Morison from England lunched with us. She is to make a few addresses here under the auspices of the National Education Association before proceeding to Japan. She was the headmistress of the school in England which one of my husband's young English cousins attended. She has a most interesting face and exemplifies in herself a certain quality of culture which English education produces and which we do not so often achieve in the United States.

E.R.


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, June 16, 1937

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.

XML master last modified on June 9, 2017.

HTML version generated and published on May 3, 2022.

Transcription created from a photocopy of a draft version of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. My Day column draft dated June 15, 1937, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 15 June 1937, AERP, FDRL