The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1941-08-01

Eleanor Roosevelt


A very delightful day started, for
half an hour, with Mrs. Archibald
MacLeish singing US charming
French and German songs. Then
the whole group began to sing them
with her. While they have not done
much singing as group, / found
they showed signs of getting to-
gether and really enjoying it. We
have several young people with
very nice voices and several who
play the piano.
DR.. and Mrs. David Levy lunched
with US and after lunch we went
back to join the students and listen
to Mr.. MacLeish, who read COM
mencement address which he deliv-
cred this spring, and his poem:
America Was Promises" To hear
him read, either prose or poetry, is
an unforgettable experience. 1t was
so beautiful that I think that every
one present felt that, in applauding,
they were breaking spell of beauty
which had been cast about them.
At about $3.50 Mr.. and Mrs. Mac
Leish left and then ! listened to q
discussion between Justice Frank
furter and some of the students on
the need for political organizations.
To my joy, when we returned to
our own house, I found that our son,
Jimmy, and his wife had arrived.
Soon after, Mrs. Henry Morgenthau
Jr. came, having flown up from
New York city under somewhat UNI
certain weather conditions. The fog
here was thick until about five
o'clock, when it suddenly began to
clear and the setting sun shone
through rift in the clouds on the
water, making the mouth Of the
river look like pool of gold.
One evening, I read aloud some
selections Of rather lighter poetry,
ending up with one serious group
from "John Browns Body" by
Stephen Vincent Benet, after which
the students began to ask for poems
which were special favorites. ] was
interested to find how many young
people read poetry for pleasure.
One of them asked me to bring
some poems by Langston Hughes,
another would like me to read
Hoods "The Song Of the Shirt"
BOSTON STOP
AS soon as reached Boston one
day, / was greeted by Johnny and
Anne. We had a very satisfactory
visit and were joined little later
by Franklin Jr. I telephoned my
husband and we spent some little
time catching up on news Of all the
different members of the family.
He had Ruth and her two children
in the White House and wished I
could be in two places at once, for
/ would love to see her and Chan
der and Elliott Jr.
All too soon, the message came
that Professor Zimmerman was
waiting for me downstairs and Mrs.
Morgenthau, Miss Thompson and I
went out with him to Cambridge.
There we had a delightful dinner at
the Faculty club and / enjoyed talk
ing to my two neighbors, Mr..
Jerome Green and Mr.. Mather. At
800, we went over to the evening
secession of the Institute on the Chill
dren of Tomorrow. This was the
first of three days Of meetings. It
seems to be very well-attended
institute. They told me there was
probably some one from every state
in the Union present.
After speaking, had a short talk
with the reporters and then came
back to the Statler hotel, where I
spent some time discussing their in
terests with a group Of students,
who are planning to 60 to South
America. They have two months
at Harvard under the direction Of
Mr.. Louis Quintavilla and then, I
believe, six weeks to two months in
Mexico.
STUDENT CONFERENCE
One day during the week at
tended another interesting session
of the International Students Serv-
ice conference in Campobello, N. B.
We spent most of the meeting listen
ing to Justice Frankfurter address
ing the Summer Student Leader
ship institute. In the morning, he
made remarkably clear and SIM
pie statement of what law means in
a civilized society and what the
background Of our own law is in
this country.
He started out by telling us that
he could not talk for an hour, since
he was trained in the Harvard law
school method Of making the pupils
do the work. Therefore, he would
expect the students being trained
for leadership here, to behave in
the same way and to carry the bur-
den by asking questions after he
had talked briefly. This was at
1880, and at 1918 he suddenly
looked at DR.. William Allen Nelson,
president of Smith college, and
asked: 'sWhat time is it," He had
been as interested as the listeners
and do not think anyone there had
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