If You Asked Me

Who are the three greatest women in the world, whom you consider worthy of having history immortalize their names?

Florence Nightingale, the nurse;
Madame Curie, the scientist;
and Harriet Beecher, the woman of letters.

For the first opened up the greatest of the fields of noble work for which woman was created. The second proved woman's equality with man in her fitness for scientific research. And the third had courage enough to wage a fierce campaign against the institution of slavery in her immortal book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Do you sometimes feel lonely? And how do you avoid the gloom and the worries that assail us from time to time?

I do not recall ever having felt lonely. As for gloom and worries, I avoid them by two means. The first: faith in God; and the second: filling the hours of leisure with a strict, ordered program, such as I imposed upon myself for a long stretch of time — for work is the most useful remedy in such a case. And in general I always try to hide my worries from people.

Did you believe in all of President Roosevelt's principles and opinions, and in his philosophy of life?

No... each of us had his own independent personality. And although our views agreed on many of the great questions, we sometimes differed, as every married couple differs now and then — if not on principle, then on method. Often we would debate the things we differed over in an atmosphere ruled by affection and harmony... each of us stating his view with complete frankness, and we would go on with the give-and-take until one of us was convinced. And it was my husband who won most of the time.

Do you advise striking children when they persist in mischief, or do you prefer handling them with tact and gentleness?

While the child is at an age when he cannot tell the good from the bad, a "spanking" in which gentleness is observed may do a fair amount of good. But once his mental growth is complete and he reaches the stage of discernment and understanding, avoiding blows becomes an absolute duty. And if parents have the right to "strike" when the need arises, it is a mistake to concede that right to governesses.

What do you advise the wife in dealing with her "mother-in-law" who interferes in her affairs?

If the wife can be honest and frank with her mother-in-law — sharing her feelings with her, talking with her without constraint or dissimulation, and working to create a mutual friendship — this will have its effect in keeping understanding alive and the atmosphere clear, especially if both parties cast grudges and rancors aside... I believe that a mother-in-law's feeling of hatred for her son's wife is an unnatural feeling, arising from the excess of certain wives in monopolizing their husbands, and from their blind jealousy of the husband's "past" — even where it concerns his mother.