Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Woodrow Wilson
Title
Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Woodrow Wilson
Creator
McAdoo, Eleanor Wilson, 1889-1967
Identifier
WWP19598
Date
1922 March 21
Description
Eleanor Wilson McAdoo writes Woodrow Wilson about her move to California.
Source
Eleanor Wilson McAdoo Papers, University of California, Santa Barbara
Publisher
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum
Subject
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence
Language
English
Text
Darling, darling Father,
That dear telegram of yours made all the difference in the world, for it kept us feeling near to you and drove away a dreadful homesick, lost feeling I had when I realized that we had really made this move and were four days away from Washington. It was so sweet of you to think of sending it - you don't know how glad I was to get it. Thank you, darling, with all my heart.
Im sorry that I have to write an ugly scribble with a pencil but this is the first chance I have had to write at all, in all the confusion of our arrival, and this peaceful moment is gained because I am in bed with a cold. Isn't it a dreadful "faux-pas" to catch my first cold of the year in the perfect climate of California? And I boasted that I never had one out here! But never mind, I can still boast that I can cure one quicker here - sitting in the gorgeous California sun. You see, I have the habit already of finding something to be proud of here no matter what happens! We had a successful and uneventful trip across, except that Faith could not be restrained from running madly about all day long on the train, and must have bumped every part of her anatomy at least a hundred times a day. She was perfectly delighted with the novel sensations but we all retired exhausted every night.
We were greeted in Los Angeles by a large reception committee, a crowd and a band and were welcomed delightfully with speeches and flowers and applause. People are really very sweet to us here and their pleasure over our arrival and the fact that we picked Los Angeles to come to seems very genuine and whole-hearted. Perfect strangers stop Mac on the street every day to shake his hand and tell him how glad they are to see him here - And everyone asks about you with the most sincere and affectionate interest I have ever seen. I wish you could hear them speak of you out here - they really love you and they are waking up at last.
We are established in a very attractive and comfortable little cottage on the hotel grounds here in Pasadena, with all the room in the world for the children to play and heavenly weather and birds and flowers galore. They are so happy - Ellen and the baby - that they are just bubbling over all day long. Ellen wants to know if she can't ask God to make the days a little longer and Faith trots about endlessly, pulling the heads off every flower she can get at, demanding "onges" (oranges) and simply chortling and gurgling with joy. I have never seen her in such good form.
Mac has found a nice office and is nearly settled and ready for business - It is such a relief for him - and for me - that he can drive to business every morning in this lovely air instead of struggling back and forth in that unspeakable subway in New York.
But, tho' we are happy here and everything is going well, we miss you and the rest of our families terribly. And we won't get over that, either - it's going to be awfully hard and we'll have to go back east at least once a year to see you. Darlingest Father, I love you so - and it's hard not to see you often. One of the worst things, too, was leaving Margie there in New York - she needs encouragement so much, poor little dear, and I could help her sometimes. She knows that we all believe in her success but she has to be reassured very often - I can't talk much about that phase of our departure - leaving you all - it makes me so unhappy. Will you tell dear Edith that if she will send me a little note once in a while it will help enormously? And I will promise to write often - I have to, to keep from being too homesick. Give her heaps of love from us all - and keep heaps for yourself.
And I send you, darling, wonderful Father my heart full of adoring love
Your devoted daughter
Nell.
Mar 21st 1922
That dear telegram of yours made all the difference in the world, for it kept us feeling near to you and drove away a dreadful homesick, lost feeling I had when I realized that we had really made this move and were four days away from Washington. It was so sweet of you to think of sending it - you don't know how glad I was to get it. Thank you, darling, with all my heart.
Im sorry that I have to write an ugly scribble with a pencil but this is the first chance I have had to write at all, in all the confusion of our arrival, and this peaceful moment is gained because I am in bed with a cold. Isn't it a dreadful "faux-pas" to catch my first cold of the year in the perfect climate of California? And I boasted that I never had one out here! But never mind, I can still boast that I can cure one quicker here - sitting in the gorgeous California sun. You see, I have the habit already of finding something to be proud of here no matter what happens! We had a successful and uneventful trip across, except that Faith could not be restrained from running madly about all day long on the train, and must have bumped every part of her anatomy at least a hundred times a day. She was perfectly delighted with the novel sensations but we all retired exhausted every night.
We were greeted in Los Angeles by a large reception committee, a crowd and a band and were welcomed delightfully with speeches and flowers and applause. People are really very sweet to us here and their pleasure over our arrival and the fact that we picked Los Angeles to come to seems very genuine and whole-hearted. Perfect strangers stop Mac on the street every day to shake his hand and tell him how glad they are to see him here - And everyone asks about you with the most sincere and affectionate interest I have ever seen. I wish you could hear them speak of you out here - they really love you and they are waking up at last.
We are established in a very attractive and comfortable little cottage on the hotel grounds here in Pasadena, with all the room in the world for the children to play and heavenly weather and birds and flowers galore. They are so happy - Ellen and the baby - that they are just bubbling over all day long. Ellen wants to know if she can't ask God to make the days a little longer and Faith trots about endlessly, pulling the heads off every flower she can get at, demanding "onges" (oranges) and simply chortling and gurgling with joy. I have never seen her in such good form.
Mac has found a nice office and is nearly settled and ready for business - It is such a relief for him - and for me - that he can drive to business every morning in this lovely air instead of struggling back and forth in that unspeakable subway in New York.
But, tho' we are happy here and everything is going well, we miss you and the rest of our families terribly. And we won't get over that, either - it's going to be awfully hard and we'll have to go back east at least once a year to see you. Darlingest Father, I love you so - and it's hard not to see you often. One of the worst things, too, was leaving Margie there in New York - she needs encouragement so much, poor little dear, and I could help her sometimes. She knows that we all believe in her success but she has to be reassured very often - I can't talk much about that phase of our departure - leaving you all - it makes me so unhappy. Will you tell dear Edith that if she will send me a little note once in a while it will help enormously? And I will promise to write often - I have to, to keep from being too homesick. Give her heaps of love from us all - and keep heaps for yourself.
And I send you, darling, wonderful Father my heart full of adoring love
Your devoted daughter
Nell.
Mar 21st 1922
Original Format
Letter
To
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Files
Citation
McAdoo, Eleanor Wilson, 1889-1967, “Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo to Woodrow Wilson,” 1922 March 21, WWP19598, Eleanor Wilson McAdoo Collection at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.