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Show Eleanor Roosevelt YEARS OF SACRIFICE FOR AMERICAN YOUTH One evening I was in New York city for almost five hours, for my apartment served as a reunion place for the members of the two summer institutes sponsored by the International Interna-tional Student service at Asheville, N. C, and Campobello, Canada. Some of the students who were at the institutes there were able to remain re-main in New York city for a few days. We had much singing- and gaiety, but also some serious discussion discus-sion on the personal stake of each boy and girl in the war. Most of the boys will soon be in the service. I was interested to find how many of the girls felt that their contribution contribu-tion might be made in factory work. Sometimes I grow a little weary of the older people, who through the medium of the press, thoughtlessly suggest that everything done for young people today is unnecessary. It is a privilege to fight for your country and the world, but with that privilege must go the assurance that when the war is over, if you survive, sur-vive, you will have a part in creating creat-ing the conditions under which you want to live. The fact that we are now obliged to call our youth to this kind of sacrifice, shows that some of us in different parts of the world failed to live up to the ideals to which we gave lip-service lip-service in World War No. 1 after it came to an end. Perhaps we did not realize that it meant political and economic changes, not only at home but abroad. In any case, we were not prepared pre-pared to face the situation. The boys of today are going into the armed forces as rapidly as they can be equipped, trained and used, and perhaps it is worth while for them to have a conviction as to what they are fighting for. They may fight better. It will help them if they know we really care about their convictions and will continue to carry car-ry on the interests which they, as young people, are consecrated to in the future, while they, at present, fight the war. PLEASANT WEATHER HYDE PARK. Between showers one day all of us had a little exercise exer-cise and a swim. While I was over at the big house sorting out things which are to go to various children, I suddenly realized that rain was falling again as hard as ever. I woke that morning to a sky of clouds, which made me wonder if the sun would ever burn through. It has, and the birds are hopping around and drying themselves. A beautiful scarlet one flew right by my porch bed this morning and a whole family of small pheasants dashed across the road as we walked home the previous afternoon. after-noon. Today I hope we are going to have blue skies all day and a warm sun to lie in for a while. I happened to see a doctor friend of mine in Pough-keepsie Pough-keepsie one afternoon and he asked me if I didn't feel that I wanted to go away and leave all the things I have been doing. I told him that life was varied enough at home and that I could get plenty of rest and still be busy, and that with three little girls in the house just now we certainly are gay. THEATER WAR EFFORT HYDE PARK. One evening I went to a meeting held on the stage of the National theater in Washington. Washing-ton. The American Theater Wing War Service, Inc., which sponsors the Stage Door canteen in New York city, was organizing the Washington Stage Door canteen. Miss Helen Hayes, a Washington girl, is going to head it. We all had supper and then the speeches began, presided over by Mr. Brock Pemberton, the New York play producer. pro-ducer. I imagine there were more stars treading the boards than ever had been on the stage at one time before. One of the rules of the Stage Door canteen is that the hostesses may not go out with any of the boys. One man, who has been coming regularly reg-ularly for a long time, invited the senior hostess and one or two others over to Governor's Island for an entertainment, saying: "You see we are only allowed to ask our families, fam-ilies, but two of my boys have been killed in this war, and you are the only family I have, so won't you please come?" Running the canteen in Washington Washing-ton isn't going to be easy, if it is as popular as the one in New York city. It will require an enormous amount of food and a great deal of talent to keep the show going night after night. ... GOOD-BYE TO HER MAJESTY One afternoon in Washington, I received the members of the Institute Insti-tute on World Problems of the World Federation of Education Associations. As-sociations. They were a most interesting in-teresting group. I should have liked to spend more time with them, but since I hac' been unable to obtain space on a plane, I had to leave them to say good-bye to her majesty, the queen of the Netherlands, and take a four o'clock train for New York city. Buy War Bonds |
