Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-07-04
WILSON ALWAYS
FOND OF POLITICS
Lawyer, Teacher, College Head,
Author and Governor Steps
in His Career.

All MS ne. III SDItp VI ludl lt't' il Is
not yet three years since he entered poll
tics. There Is no contradiction in these
statements. The avocation of thirty
years has simply become his vocation.
His earliest recollection is of the be-
ginning of the crisis of the Civil War
OF n man who ran down street In
Staunton. Va. shouting: Lincoln is
elected and there'll be war;
Almost without interruption since that
time. things poliScal have attracted him
most strongly. 1t is about them, and his
study of them. that his success as a
that his fame as historian centers.
Now that he is in politics he has but
taken to applying concreteiy the con-
clusions he reached abstractly.
Staunton. where he heard that prophecy
Of an epoch. was his birthplace. and
December 2S. 1856. the date. He was
chrstened Thomas Woodrow Wilson, and
he was Tom until he had been
graduated from Princeton in 1879 His
father was the Rev. Joseph Ruggles Will
son. Presbyterian clergyman. who later
moved to Augusta, Ga. then to Wilm-
ington. d. c.. where he lived when
Tom was ready for college. The son S
first training for that period Of his life
was at Davidson College. where he might.
it is now recalled. have been member
of .he baseball team If he had not been
80 lazy"
The clearest recollection OF DR.. VIII
son when he was an undergraduate
% D.ir 10 =,
built like a nail" He was a goo J.
but not conspicuous. student. ana
when he took his bachelors degree ne
ranked 41st in n class OF 120. falling
just outside the first third. From
Princeton he went to the University
of Virginia, from whose law scaool he
WAS graduated in 1852.
TRIED TO BE A LAWYER.
For two years. in Atlanta. Ga.
! Thomas w. Wilson tried to be law
yer The devious ways OF the pro-
| fesson wcra too irksome for him and
| in 1884 he was back in school. this
! time at Johns Hopkins University
! pursuing a course of philosopllr He
was happy once more he found. an
timore he definitely set out on the po-
Utica trend that has since character
IL I'd him.
His thesis upon which his doctor:
degree was granted. was Congress
| sional Government" and although HI
was but 30 when he wrote II, there
! was enough of his vigorous. indapen
+ lent personality in 1T to cause 1t to b'
greeted with more discussion tnan us
ually marks the appearance of sucl
studies. The dissent II aroused wa
evidence of the thoroughness will
! which the work had been done an
Congressional Government" is to- la,
a textbook.
From Johns Hopkins. Dir Wilson wen
to Bryn Mawr as adjunct professor o
history. From Bryn Mawr he went t
Wesleyan University. Middletown, conn
as professor of history and political econ
omy and the trend OF his life though
became more sharply defined In 1890 hi
ways led him again to Princeton. wher
ne became professor of Jurisprudence an
political economy, his title becoming Il
1895, Mccormick professor of jurispru
dence and politics.
RESOLVES TO Re AN ORATOR.
1t was during this period that Yer
important purpose came to DR. Wilson
No statement OF 1t has ever before bee
published and most Of those who kne'
Of 1t at the time have fotgotten 1t. Yes
terday. however. one of these said to
reporter for the World.
at was Just % years ago that DR.. Wi
son said to a little company of us at dir
ner one evening:
do you know. I believe hat a ma
without aptitude in that direction ma
deliberately make of himself a great ora
tor | do not mean eloquent. necessarily
but great In the appeal there will he
what he has to say. | am going to So
about it. anyhow l am reading Demos
themes every day"
Six years ago, I suppose, ! chance
TO recall this on another meeting wit
| DR. Wilson. asked him If he sti
read Demosthenes. He laughed. an
told me that he had tried to in vain onl
a few days before. But Demosthenes ha
given him his secret, and he had II
further need Of him. DR.. Wilson talk
to-day to whole people, and in my min
| tHeT" IL no mystery ABOUT H. lie 81
about making 1t so. and 1t was so, Ism
1t characteristic of him."
1t was during this period. also, thu
Or. Wilson carried on to It's fruition h
work MS a historian. "'rhe state" whC
has, perhaps, made Woodrow Wilson
vivid personality to moro students tina
any other book of his was published
this time, "A Life OF George Washington
Revision and Reunion" THE Constit,
tiOnal History OF the United States" ar
"A History OF the American People" 70
lowed
The last named was published in l9l
the year he was elected to succeed u
Francis l.. Patton as president of Primo
ton. That election was as much an ever
I'm the history OF the university asst W.
In DR.. Wilson's life. Twelve men ha
preceded him, and each had been
. Presbyterian clergyman, DR. Wilson W;
n Presbyterian, hut never before had
a'man even been considered TO- the q
hce. With his resignation from Prime
ton upon his election a. Governor the
has come reversion to precedent, I,
, DR., Hibben was for few years at lea
II your business opportunity is OF
Ithat viIl "hold uater Writa an q