Free The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt by Eleanor Roosevelt Page B

dinners, luncheons and teas were interesting, and people of importance, with charm and wit and savoir-faire , filled my days with unusual and exciting experiences.
    The chief excitement of the winter of 1904-05 was the marriage of Pussie to W. Forbes Morgan, Jr. It took place on February 16, in Mrs. Ludlow’s house, where Pussie was staying. Pussie looked beautiful but no one was happy. Forbes was a number of years younger than Pussie, and we knew she was temperamental and wondered how they would adjust themselves to the complicated business of married life.
    Uncle Ted’s campaign and re-election had meant little to me except in general interest, for again I lived in a totally unpolitical atmosphere. In Washington, however, I gradually acquired a faint conception of the political world, very different from my New York world. I also acquired little by little the social ease which I sorely needed.
    Uncle Ted came occasionally to Auntie Bye’s house informally, and those visits were interesting events. She went, now and then, to walk with Aunt Edith, or perhaps Uncle Ted would send for her to talk over something, showing that he considered her advice well worth having. He was devoted to both his sisters, and Auntie Corinne (Mrs. Douglas Robinson) came down to see him or he went to see her in New York or in the country. They all talked on political questions, literature or art, and his wife and his sisters, all in their own ways, made their contributions to what was always stimulating talk.
    Auntie Bye had a great gift for homemaking. Some of her furniture was ugly, but wherever she lived there was an atmosphere of comfort. The talk was always lively, and there was friendliness in her unstinted hospitality. The unexpected guest was always welcome, and young or old, you really felt Auntie Bye’s interest in you.
    This may have been why I loved to be with her, for I was still shy and she gave me reassurance. She once gave me a piece of advice which must have come from her own philosophy. I was asking her how I could be sure that I was doing the right thing if someone criticized me. Her answer was, “No matter what you do, some people will criticize you, and if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone whom you loved and who loved you, and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right, then you need not worry about criticism nor need you ever explain what you do.”
    She had lived for many years according to this principle herself. When J. R. (“Rosy”) Roosevelt’s wife died while he was first secretary to our embassy in London, she went over to be his hostess and take care of his children. There she met and was married to Captain William Sheffield Cowles, who was our naval attaché, and on her return to this country William Sheffield Cowles, Jr., was born. Because of her deformity and her age, everyone was anxious about her, but courage will carry one through a great deal and the baby arrived perfect in every way and both mother and baby progressed normally to health and strength.
    Uncle Will, Auntie Bye’s husband, was now an admiral in the Navy, and I began to learn something about the services and to realize that these men who are our officers in the Army and Navy, while they receive little financial compensation, are enormously proud to serve their country. They and their wives have a position which is their right by virtue of their service, regardless of birth or of income. Quite a new idea to a provincial little miss from New York!
    In June of 1904 I went with Franklin’s mother and most of his cousins to his commencement at Harvard, the first commencement I had ever attended. That summer I paid my aunt, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, a long visit in Islesboro, Maine, where she had a cottage, and then I went up to stay with Franklin and his mother at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada. Franklin came down to get me, and we made the long trip by train, changing