The Washington times., 1933-04-03


the boys beat out a forest fire
that they had seen as they
Skirted the shore and, return
ing, Franklin had taken a
slight chill. He thought moth
ing Of it, however, and took q
hike across the island with the
older children, finishing up
with a swim in the icy waters
Of the Bay Of Fundy. When he
got home he found that the
mail was in and instead Of
dressing at once he read the
greater portion Of it. sitting on
the porch in a dripping bath
ing suit. The next day he had
ali the customary symptoms Of
an incipient cold, but the fol-
lowing morning the pains grew
- more severe and he consented
!. to have DR.. Bennett come from
! Lubec to see him. Feeling un'
! able to assume the responsible
/ tty Of a diagnosis, he called a
Philadelphia specialist who hap
j. pened to be staying at Bar Har-
;. bor, q DR.. Keen, whose dag.
nosis Of infantile paralysis was
. confirmed q few days later by
DR.. Robert Lovett who arrived
from Boston.
Remained at CampObellO
During what was left Of the
summer Franklin remained at
Campobello. Eleanor put off
the friends they were expecting
with the excuse that Franklin
had q bad case Of the grippe.
The resumption of his work
was postponed on the same
grounds. No one was told Of the
actual condition since the doc
tors themselves were unwilling
to pass Judgment on the extent
of the malady.
I was in Europe all through
these dark days Of despair and
in every ones desire to spare
me was told nothing of Frank
Inns illness beyond casual
reference that was made to a
nasty cold he had contracted.
It was not until I returned
from abroad in September that
I heard from my brother who
met me at the boat, what the
true condition was.
When the trouble abated to a
point where my son could be
moved, he returned to New York
and started treatments with DR..
George Draper, who was very
Sanguine over Fran k Inns
chances for complete recovery.
Ignored Disability
In the meantime I arranged
for his return to Hyde Park
where I hoped he would devote
himself to his restoration to
health, and to the writing per
haps Of the book he had always
longed to get on paper. But
Franklin had no intention Of
conforming to my quiet ideas
for his future existence. He was
determined to ignore his dis
ability and carry on from where
he had left off. Eleanor entered
wholeheartedly into this plan
and while he resigned from
those activities that required
his daily presence downtown.
he continued with all of the
interests that could be directd
from his bedside.
When he was discharged
from the hospital he did not
60 to the country as had
hoped he would. but went d.
rectly to the Sixty-fifth Street
house where life went on much
as before. Little by little he i'm
proved to a point when he
could go to business a good
part of each day, and it was
not long before he was once
again in close touch with all
the things that interested him
most.
Part in Convention
He took an active part in
the Democratic national con-
vention in 1924, working until
the small hours of the morn
ing for days on end. He stead
fastly refused to concede even
to himself that he was func-
tioning under a handicap and
to this day I don't believe any
one has ever heard him make
any reference to his illness. I
know never have. He has an
absorbing interest in anything
that even vaguely approaches
a cure for poliomyelitis, but
that concern. from my obser-
vation, is less a personal than
O humanitarian one.
Shortly after the convention
Franklin had another consulta-
tion with DR.. Lovett who had
been having great success with
underwater treatments In pa
Talysis cases.
This tepld water cure used
In conjunction with exercises
given for the, purpose of rees-
tabhshing muscular control, was
working wonders. even in ex-
treme instances.
Warm Springs Visit
Consequently, in the fall of
1924. Franklin having heard
through George Foster Peabody
Of a pool located, at Warm
Springs, Georgia, that possessed
great curative properties, started
South determined to give it a
FRY. He stayed on for six weeks
and during that time made
greater progress than he had