From the late forties through the fifties my aunt Eleanor invited me and my four children to spend a month with her every summer at her home, Val-Kill Cottage in Hyde Park New York. Often her son John with his wife and four children were in residence in the Stone Cottage next door. That meant there was a camp with a minimum of eight children in residence, ranging in age from two to thirteen. With a swimming pool and tennis court and horses to ride there was no dearth of entertainment for the young and on rainy days they settled indoors on the floor to play card games or to read from the booklist my aunt had drawn up for them for summer reading. She never minded having them race through her cottage or gather in a group to play a game.

One summer morning after aunt Eleanor and I and my children had had breakfast on the porch of Tommy's apartment, Mrs. R. went in to sit beside Tommy at Tommy's desk in order to dictate her daily column. She took the newspaper with her and put on her glasses. Then she glanced through the paper until she came to an item of interest to her, one that related to a subject she had thought about. She was constantly adding facts to her mental perception of current events so that when she felt ready to state an opinion she had a balanced and informed background for her view. It was raining that morning and a group of three or four children settled on the floor in front of Mrs. Roosevelt's chair to play a board game.

Her secretary, Malvina Thompson (Tommy) was an expert typist because there simply was not time to take shorthand notes of Mrs. Roosevelt's column and then transpose them into a finished article. It had to be typed as it was spoken and then sent off to the newspaper syndicate while Tommy and her 'Boss' went on to the next business of the day.

Meanwhile my aunt kept an eye on the children and occasionally reminded the older ones to play fair with the younger ones. After an hour or two my aunt paused in her work with Tommy. She had been answering her mail or working on an article or responding to telephone messages as well as sending her own, through Tommy, to local, state or international contacts. She pushed back her chair and stood up. She would go for a walk in the rain now and take the two little scotties with her. She paused by the window. Something attracted her attention. A large black limousine pulled up at her door.

"Tommy," she said, "Do we have anyone coming today? I didn't see it on my calendar."

Tommy looked at her own calendar and observed that the only appointment she had before lunch was with the pest exterminator.

A uniformed chauffeur got out of the limousine and knocked politely. When the door was opened by Les in his butler's apron, the chauffeur announced that his eminence, Cardinal Spellman of the Holy Roman Catholic Church had come to call on Mrs. Roosevelt.

My aunt was surprised. (Tommy was annoyed by such effrontery). The date was in the 1940s. Aunt Eleanor had been having a heated and public discussion with the Cardinal about our American belief in the separation of Church and State. At one point the cardinal had referred to Mrs. Roosevelt as an un-American mother. She was quick thereupon to remind him that all four of her sons were in the armed services willing to give their lives for their country.

Public response to the interchange between his eminence and my aunt made it increasingly clear that the American people were sympathetic to my aunt's stance. She maintained that we Americans tolerate any religion a citizen chooses for his private belief but we do not think the federal government should specifically help any particular congregation over another. Our minds must remain free.

To have the Cardinal appear unannounced at her doorstep must be a statement of truce. Rome must have sent a message to its cardinal that continuation of the interchange between his eminence and Mrs. Roosevelt was apt to do more harm than good to the church cause at this point and it should be quietly interred.

Aunt Eleanor was never above enjoying a political victory. She asked Tommy to tell the cook to serve coffee for two in the living room and she greeted Cardinal Spellman with her usual grace. She later reported they spoke of trivialities for an hour before he took his leave and the long, black limousine slid out the narrow country road that served as driveway to the simple abode of the first lady of the world.