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

[This column has emendations. View original version]

      

HYDE PARK, Tuesday—Until today the Presidential household has been rather calm, and I have been thinking how pleasantly quiet it was, but this morning ever since nine-thirty there have been people on our front porch and delegations waiting to get in at the gate. I was late getting in from my ride as I had taken. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Walker over to see the improvements that we have made at the cottage and finding that the woods at last were free of flies, I had not been able to resist taking a short ride through them.

While I was still dressing, they came up to say that a lady from Watertown, Connecticut, and her small boy were at the gate wishing to shake hands with the President and to see me. For a moment I could remember no one who had made an appointment, but finally I remembered her letter and although no date had been set, I decided that as long as the lady was at the gate, she had better come in. Amid all the other delegations, she stepped in and shook the President by the hand telling him that her home was in Georgia, but she was now living in Watertown. Everyone had been most kind to her there, but the fact that the Democrats were few and far between made her long to at least have her son remember that he had once shaken hands with a Democratic President! By the time I had said a few words to everybody, the shopping which I meant to do in Poughkeepsie was out of the question.

I am now gathering up my guests for lunch in preparation to taking every one up to the county fair at Rhinebeck this afternoon. This is the first day of the horse show and if any of our children were at home, we would of course, be showing some horses, but that particular interest will be absent this year, for we have no entries.

I always love the County Fair, however, and would hate to miss walking down the street with all the shows, and the shooting galleries, and the fortune tellers and the fat lady! The agricultural exhibits and the flowers and the women's work are very interesting too. The 4-H Clubs exhibits and the solemn children with their calves and chickens, etc., always give me quite a thrill. For after all, agriculture is a basic industry and one without which we could not get along, and it is interesting to see the next generation learning to do the job.

When I got home last night I found my husband back from his picnic and some of the household listening over the radio to what sounded like a major sports event. I am rather glad myself that it was on the radio, for I fear I should not enjoy it if I actually could see what was described. I have seen a certain amount of boxing, and I know something about the skill and quickness and intelligence required, but I don't even enjoy a football game. My imagination always pictures someone being injured and the anticipation is usually far worse than the actually!

E.R.


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, September 1, 1937

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
[ ERPP bio | LC | VIAF | WorldCat | DPLA | Wikidata | SNAC ]

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)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Regenhardt, Christy (Associate Editor)
    [ ISNI ]
  • Black, Allida M. (Editor)
    [ VIAF | ISNI ]
  • Binker, Mary Jo (Associate Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]
  • Alhambra, Christopher C. (Electronic Text Editor)
    [ VIAF | ORCID ]

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 August 31, 1937, FDR Library, Hyde Park, NY
TMsd, 31 August 1937, AERP, FDRL