History buffs are sure to devourEleanor,a weighty, probing tome on the remarkable life of Eleanor Roosevelt.
I was brought up in a rather peculiar way.
On the first evening session of every term, Souvestre read poetry aloud.
At Allenswood, her talent shined.
The attention she captured intensified the next day when Mademoiselle praised her before a full assembly.
But to Eleanor, mischievous Nelly Post was the tuning fork.
From their first class together Eleanor found her irresistible.
She was a natural subversive more like a Western American than an Easterner.
This impression of mine was helped considerably by the fact that Mlle.
Souvestre seemed to feel that there were only two members of her class [Nelly] and myself.
She was elated by the headmistress’s recognition of their yin-and-yang closeness.
Still more mystic chords seemed to have been struck from their startlingly similar backgrounds.
Nelly’s mother, Lizzie Wadsworth, was fashionable, beautiful, and impersonal.
She thought that it would be pleasant for Eleanor to see some other Americans.
All of a week earlier, Eleanor had felt wondrously free of her former life.
Nelly went out by herself to greet her family and tell them about her friend.
Eleanor said hello shyly, recalled Harriet, then slunk back into the school."
While these superb horsewomen could only remind her of her failures, she redeemed herself among other notable figures.
Eleanor could be counted upon to influence others in the right direction.
And as time went on: Eleanor has the warmest heart that I have ever encountered.
Copyright 2020 by David Michaelis.
Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Unlock Access to AARP Members Edition
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