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

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—My family has been taking up so much of my thought the last few days, that apparently it is on my mind even in my sleep. I had been asleep only about fifteen minutes last night, when the telephone rang. The operator told me that one of the children wanted to speak to me. In my half-awakened state, instead of listening to what he was saying, I immediately replied: "Yes, I shall be there at once," and dashed down the hall to Franklin, Jr.'s, room, to find he was sound asleep.

He was very much surprised at my appearance, but thought of things he wanted and then turned over peacefully and went to sleep again, apparently thinking me a little mad. I decided that he must have called me in his sleep and went back to my room to find the telephone still ringing madly. On taking off the receiver, I found that the child who really had wanted to talk to me was waiting at the other end of the line.

This morning I had to leave those at my press conference to talk to each other, while I went to see stitches taken out of various cuts Franklin, Jr., had sustained in his accident. Of course, I was not in the least needed, but the habit of feeling that you must be on hand to watch whatever is being done to your family, persists even when you are simply a useless observer.

We are trying to make Eleanor and Curtis do some sightseeing while they are here, for they are really old enough now to get something besides mere enjoyment out of this trip. The snow makes them want to go out into the country and coast whenever they can, however, and the fact that they have a certain amount of school work, which they must do every day, makes it hard to be stern about sight-seeing trips.

Mrs. Morgenthau and I went out to lunch together this noon and now we are about to enjoy the first afternoon musicale given here this winter.

I started to tell you of books yesterday which have come to my notice, and I think there is one which I must not forget to mention. It is called: "Denmark, A Social Laboratory," by Peter Manniche, who was the founder and principal of International People's College at Elsinore. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has considered this work sufficiently important to order a certain number of copies for distribution to universities in this country and Canada.

It is of great interest to us because it describes the cooperative farming community which has grown up in this little country, together with folk high schools and accompanying social legislation. It is true that Denmark is so much smaller than the United States that it is difficult to compare the two countries, but there are parts of our country, and groups of our citizens, where much benefit can be derived from the study of the measures which have been so successful in improving rural life in Denmark.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1940, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 3, 1940

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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