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

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—This morning I am in a mood when I wish that I could only see one side of a question. The other night a very important gentleman told me that he found it very difficult, because he could often see two sides to every question. It is certainly much more convenient to be a crusader and close your mind to everything but your own point of view. In the sad tale I am going to tell you today, I would like to have only one point of view, though I know that there is another.

A lady writes me that she has a thoroughbred six-months-old Scottie dog she has trained and brought up from puppyhood. She is the wife of an officer and is trying to find a place to lay her head in overcrowded Washington, so that she can be with her husband until he is ordered away. But the "hard-hearted" real estate people, who sometimes refuse to rent apartments to people with babies, are even more adamant when it comes to dogs.

She agrees that if her dog became a nuisance to the neighbors, he should go, because she thinks that in that case the pet would also become a nuisance to her. She has no one to whom she can give the poor little Scottie, and the choice seems to be between getting rid of him, or seeking in vain for a place in which to live.

It ill becomes anyone who lives in the house with Fala and knows what a joy a really well-behaved pet dog can be, even to consider the real esate owner's point of view for a second. But I do know that if you are running a crowded development and a great many people have pets, they make a difference to the grounds and mean added complications in the house for an often sorely tried manager. I am sure from this woman's letter that she would always have a well-trained and well-behaved dog. Unfortunately, everybody is not as considerate or as capable.

Those of us who love dogs know that our greatest joy with them is usually in the country. To have a little dog in the city is not impossible. If you are alone, it is surely very comforting to have one friend on whom you can rely, who will never question your moods, nor your actions, but will simply look at you adoringly and lick your hand whenever you give him a chance.

I can only suggest trying to find a real estate owner who feels the same devotion to dogs that my correspondent and I have in common, because gas and rubber shortages make it impossible to move out of town.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1942, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, September 9, 1942

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
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.

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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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