WASHINGTON, Monday—Yesterday we had a rather quiet morning. The afternoon was fairly busy, for we had to meet people at trains and get them off on others. There were a few guests for tea who must have thought we were a constantly moving group!

At 6 o'clock I went to speak for a few minutes at the second annual Thanksgiving dinner given at Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall by a group of girls calling themselves the Equestriennes. The dinner was attended by veterans from Walter Reed, Bethesda and St. Elizabeth's Hospitals. It was a very pretty picture as I walked in and saw the lighted tables with their gay decorations, and the dinner was certainly enjoyed by everybody.

I returned to the White House and cooked scrambled eggs for our own Sunday evening supper. My niece and her friend, who had come down from Swarthmore College, left shortly afterwards, and we all went back to our desks to work until a late hour.

I have just been told a rather nice story which I think may be of general interest, since it bears on the salvage campaign. In Hartford, Conn., the chairman of the salvage committee is Edward Brown, who is promotion manager of the Hartford Courant. He felt that in his position he could not do as much actual leg work as needed to be done, and so he took his problem to the U.S. Employment Service. They found the answer for him. A young ex-paratrooper, Stanley Krasnicki, 24 years old, was just recovering from a long convalescence after a parachute training accident. He is now employed full time, and his salary will be paid out of the proceeds of Hartford's monthly curb collection of waste paper from homes.

Hartford's population is 200,000, and Stanley's first assignment was to set up a comprehensive dealer service to all Hartford retailers in disposal of waste paper. He will also call on institutions, hotels, schools, etc., to check tin salvage participation. War veterans can do this work particularly well, for they have a strong appeal to make to civilians, and should be able to get every one of us to feel that our participation in every type of war effort is the least that we can do under the circumstances.

I have a letter from a woman in Cleveland, Ohio, who tells me there are no homes for helpless, retarded children whose parents are unable to pay for their care in that area. If the mother has to work, the child is left without proper care. I cannot believe that Cleveland does not have free care available for these children. But evidently the place where application for such help should be made is not well enough known, since this mother with a 4-year old helpless child has no idea where to go. This points up something which is very often true. Help exists, but the people who need it know nothing about it.