The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1894-11-16
OUR PRESIDENTS.

the United States, fifteen or about
two thirds, were college bred men.
This includes Grant, who was
West Pointer.
Those who never went to college
were Washington, Jackson, Van
Buren, Taylor, Fillmore, Lincoln,
Johnson, and Cleveland.
Sir Richard Steele once said of
Lady Elizabeth Hastings that "to
love her was a liberal education"
One would probably not be far wrong
in saying the same thing about Wash
ington's mother, Mary Washington.
Washington learned better things
from her than he could have learned
from Harvard or Yale.
His successor at the White House,
| John Adams, was Harvard man,
and he graduated in I7ss. He had
been sent there with some intention
of making him minister, but, luck
lily for his country, he chose law and
politics.
Jefferson was graduate in the
class of I762 of William and Mary,
college in his day Aourishing insti-
tuition Of learning. Jefferson's father
had declared on his deathbed that
his son, then boy, must receive a
college education. Jefferson never
forgot his fathers solicitude on this
point, saying in after life that if he
had to choose between the estate his
father left him and the education, he
would have taken the latter without
moments hesitation.
Jefferson, it may be added, did
more for cause of education than any
other American OF his time. 1t has
been said that he originated the mod
ern university idea. The epitaph on
his tombstone, which he himself
wrote, recites that he was the author
of the Declaration of independence
and "father Of the University of
Virginia"
Madison was graduated from
Princeton 1872, where he also spent
an additional, or postgraduate, year
studying Hebrew.
Monroe, like Jefferson, went to
William and Mary, but left before
graduating to join the Revolutionary
Army.
John Quincy Adams was Harvard
man. OF his own accord he left Lon
don, where he occupied the congenial
position of Secretary to his father, in
order to come to his native country to
be educated, deeming that an
American education was the best fit
ting for an American career" He
was graduated in 1888.
Jackson was taught only the three
RS, and his attalnments in even that
limited field were said to be scanty.
He never learned to write the English
language correctly. His disciple and
successor, Martin Van Buren, was
too early immersed in law and politics
to spare the time required for col.
lege education.
William Henry Harrison was
graduate of Hampden Sidney college,
in Virginia. He began the study of
medicine, but left it for the Army.
Tyler was the third President to at
tend William and Mary, where he
was graduated in 1907.
Polk entered the University of
North Carolina as a sophomore, and
was graduated in 1873.
Taylor entered the Army when he
was "a, with only rudimentary edu-
cation gained.
Fillmore received practically no
schooling in his boyhood. His
fathers library contained but two
books-a Bible and a collection of
hymns. Until he was 10 years old it
is said that he had never a Shakes
peare, Robinson Crusoe," history
of the United States or even map of
this country. Yet he managed to
acquire knowledge of law, and the
fact that Sir William Browne came to
be one of his favonte authors shows
how widely he must have extended
his reading in after life.
Franklin Pierce was graduated from
Bowdoin in 1924, third in the famous
class which included Longfellow and
Nathaniel Hawthorne among its
members.
Buchanan was graduated from
Dickinson College, in Pennsylvania,
in 1909.
Lincoln, as everybody knows, was
practically self taught. He once said
that he had been brought up in so
rude a country that "if straggler
supposed to understand Latin happen.
ed to sojourn in the neighborhood
he was looked upon as wizard"
Andrew Johnson was in some res
poets the most remarkable instance
OF self-made man to be found in the
list of the Presidents. He did not
know how to write until he was mar
7 ried. Then his wife taught him. Not