Evening star., 1932-06-12

This is the fourth q ,s. ;s.ie: >, Of nIs. psI
sens' aens. candast.. Of or ne xss
BY FLORENCE DAVIES.
A LBANY, N. Y, June II (N.A.
n N.A.).-Anna Eleanor Roose-
II welt is an interesting person.
1 \ She is tall and has deep blue
eyes and great deal Of light
brown hair, which is only little wavy.
and looks as If 1t has been brushed
with q hundred strokes in the manner
of our mothers.
husband, the Governor Of New York,
is the Democrats leading candidate
for the presidency, at the executive
mansion, in Albany.
The interest this woman holds Is not
primarily in her appearance. 1t lies
within herself and emanates from her
background.
In fact, as I walked down the big
stairway from her second-floOr sitting
room, said to myself. "Aristocratic to
her finger tips, and yet with the COM
mon touch. That's the Roosevelt ira
dition. It's Theodore Roosevelt all
over again."
For Mrs. Roosevelt was a Roosevelt
before she married fifth or sixth cou-
Theodore Roosevelt's younger brother
Elliott, and her mother was Anna Liv-
ingston Hall, descendant Of Chan
cellor Livingston, so she comes from a
long line of distinguished families on
both sides.
But Eleanor Roosevelt, with her di-
rect approach, her free, Energetic way,
gives herself no airs and graceS.
Capacity for Reality.
She doesn't have to; she has them all
inside. They don't have to be put on;
they lust exist! Another quality she
has, beside this unmistakable evidence
of being to the manor born, is a great
when you think of her carefully shielded
childhood.
For Eleanor Roosevelt's parents had
both died by the time she was or 10,
and she went to live with her grand
mother, Mis-. Valentine G. Hall, gen.
tlawoman Of the old school, with q home
at Tivoli on the Hudson. not far from
Poughkeepsie. There, and when she
was in New York, she was taught by
private tutors or a governess until she
was Is.
Then she was sent abroad for three
years to a private school just outside
London This was not exactly school
in the modern sense. The important
part OF the life there really consisted
in coming into close contact with a
highly cultured Frenchwoman of wide
acquaintance. who for many years had
had a school in Paris. Disheartened
bv the Franco-Prussian War. this school
mistress. Mile. Souvestre. moved to the
environs of London and took few
They studied the usual languages,
literature and history. but they did
much more. In the Summer, made
moiselle took Eleanor about Europe and
sought out the treasures Of Italy and
France or the Northern European coun-
tries as fancy might direct.
Met Famed People.
With this cultured Frenchwoman.
young Eleanor met artists, statesmen
and authors. Once, passing through
Pisa, they decided to remain and spend
the week end with Mrs. Humphrey
Ward. Again. in Fiesole, they met a
noted artist painting In that lovely
spot. Another time It was luncheon
with a statesman who was to become
premier of France.
And so, alter three years of this
young Eleanor returned home for her
debut, when she was introduced to
New York's Four Hundred by her
grandmother, Mrs. Hall.
And it was ssimply awful" she said
to me. oh. 1t was a beautiful party.
OF course. but I was so unhappy be-
cause a girl who comes out is utterly
miserable if she doesn't know all the
young people. And, of course, I had
been away so much I had lost touch
with the girls used to know as a
child in New York. So was miserable
through all that"
Now this seems q strange background
for a woman who is keenly interested
in helping the farmer to stay on his
land by bringing industry within his
reach for his leisure time: who Is the
assistant principal Of school for girls,
and who teaches and talks to parents
three day a week: who has taught the
children in a settlement house, and
who. during the previous presidential
campaign, took charge Of the office Of
the National Democratic Women's Com
mittee: who now carries on a vast
amount of personal philanthropic work,
and keeps q staff OF secretaries busy.
But that is the Roosevelt paradox.
To get back to the day in Albany!
I waited for Mrs. Roosevelt In her
sunny upstairs sitting room in the ri
diculous old executive mansion made Of
three pretentious brick houses. with