The Washington times., 1912-07-03
WILSON POLITICIAN
FOR MOST Of HIS
BRILLIANT CAREER
Avocation Has Recently Be-
come Vocation of Cover
nor and Nominee.

au MS nIe. In spite or that fact, II Is
not yet three years since he entered pol
itics.
There Is no contradiction in these
statements. The avocation Of thirty
years has simply become his vocation.
His earliest recollection is of the begin
ming of the crisis of the civil war; of a
man who ran down a street in Staunton,
Va, shouting: Lincoln is elected and
there'll be warr'
Almost without interruption since that
time, things political have attracted
him most strongly. 1t is about them,
and his study of them, that his success
as teacher centered, and It is about
them that his fame as q historian CEN
ters. Now that he is in politics he has
out taken to applying concretely the
conclusions he reached abstractly.
Staunton, where he heard the prophecy
of an epoch, was his birthplace, and De-
cember 2S, 1856, the date. He was christ
ened Thomas Woodrow Wilson, and Re
was tom" until he had been graduated
from Princeton, in 1879. His father was
the Rev. Joseph Ruggles Wilson, Pres
byterian clergyman, who later moved
to Augusta, Ca, then to Wilmington, N.
c., where he lived when Tom" was
ready for college. The sons first train
ing for that period of his life was at
Davidson College, where he might, 1t is
now recalled, have been a member of
the the ,oa baseball team If he had not been
Good Student.
The clearest recollection of DR.. Wilson
when he was an undergraduate. at
Princeton seems to be that he was "built
like nail" He was a good, but not
.A, -,ol
his bachelors degree he ranked forty
first in class of 12o-falling just out
side the first third. From Princeton he
went to the University of Virginia, from
whose law school he was graduated in
1882.
For two years, In Atlanta, Ca. Thomas
w. Wilson tried to be a lawyer. The
devious ways of the profession were too
irksome for him, and. in 1884, he was
back in school, this time at Johns Hop
kins University. pursuing a course in
philosophy.
From Johns Hopkins DR.. Wilson went
to Bryn Mawr as adjunct professor of
history. From Bryn Mawr he went to
Wesleyan University. Middleton. Conn,
economy, and the trend of his life
thought became more sharply defined.
In 1890 his ways led him again to
Princeton, where he became professor
OF jurisprudence and political economy,
his title becoming in 1895 Mccormick
professor of jurisprudence and politics.
1t was during this period that a very
Important purpose came to DR.; Wilson.
No statement Of 1t has ever before been
published, and most Of those who knew
of 1t at the time have forgotten it. Yes
terday, however, one of these said to a
newspaper man:
hot
DR.. Wilson said to little company of
us at dinner one evening:
To Make Orator.
"'Do you know. 1 believe that a man
without aptitude in that direction may
deliberately make off, himself a great
orator? I do not mean eloquent, neces-
sarily. but great in the appeal there
will be IN what he has to say. l am
going to see about 1t, snyhow. l am
reading Demosthenes every day
Six years ago, I suppose. I CHANGED
10 recall this On another meeting with
DR.. Wilson. I asked him If he still
read Demosthcnos. He laughed, and
told me that he had tried 10 in vain
only a few days before. But Demos
themes had given him bis secret. and
he had no further need OF him. Or.
and in my mind there IS no mystery
about II. He set about making 1t SO.
and 1t was SO. Isn't it characteristic
Of him?"
1t was during this period. also. that
l,r. Wilson carried on to it's fruiion
his work as a historian. The State"
which has, perhaps. made Woodrow
Wilson a, vivid personality to more
students s,,th than any other book Of his;
George Washington Revision and
Reunion The Constitutional History
OF the United States and "A History
Of the American People" followed.
1902, the year he was elected to sue
ceed DR.. Francis L. Patton as Presi-
dent of Princeton. That election was
as much an event in the history of the
university as 1t was in DIR. Wilson's
life. Twelve men had preceded him. and
each had been Presbyterian clergy
man. DR.. Wilson was a Presbyterian,
and his father had been a clergyman,
been considered for the Office. With
his resignation from Princeton upon
his election as governor there has
come a reversion of precedent. for
DR.. Hibben was. for few years at
As professor. DR.. Wilson was
liked immensely.
Princeton is still Governor Wilson's
He moved merely from Prospect to a
charming house in Cleveland lane,
from which he travelled daily as his
duties at Trenton called him. 1t Is
quite as near the golf links as was
Prospect, and in that DR.. Wilson
found an abiding satisfaction for golf
is his game.
Two other recreations find a place in
DR., Wilson'S scheme OF things-limer-
icks and detective stories. His store of
the former is. s.rinexhaustible; regarding
the latter his friends say that he Is
lone Of the greatest living authorities"
In all these recreations, DR.. Wilson in
dulges heartily. He is a good play
fellow and play finds generous allow
ance of his time.
The Wilson family is one of rare
charm. Mrs Wilson-who was Helen
Louise Axson. of Savannah. Ga, until
her marriage in 1SS5-takes an untiring
interest in all her husbands affairs.
There are three daughters in the
family-Margaret Woodrow, who has
made music her chief interest; Jessie
Woodrow, who spends much of her time
in doing settlement work in Philadel-
phia, and Eleanor Randolph, who like
her mother, has a bent for art, and Is
a student at the Philadelphia Acad-
emy of Fine Arts.
Columbia Moose Pick
National Delegate