Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1913-03-26

y
up and brought In the wood for their
own fires and carried in water from
the pump outside. Wilson's room was
on the ground floor, luckily: it was
rather: a job to carry arm loads Of wood
to remote rooms on the upper floors.
There still fingers at Davidson the ira
dition that Tom Wilson established q
record in the minimum time necessary
to dress, cross the campus and be In
his seat when the before breakfast
chapel bell stopped ringing.
Instruction at Davidson was rather
better than was common at small col
leges in those days. Still, 1t can hard
ly be said that Wilson received much
intellectual impulse here. although he
probably added something to his stock
Of knowledge. His college mates In
cluded a score or more who afterward
made regulations in the world. per-
haps the most eminent being r. B.
Glenn, who became governor of North
Carolina. His classmates remember
nothing unusual about Wilson when
at Davidson college. They say he. had
an open, engaging face. pleasant man.
ners and was very generally liked.
They agree that he was not very much
interested In games, which then con.
sisted Of baseball and shiny. How
ever, he played baseball for awhile
on the college nine and had the pleas
ure Of hearing the captain say, will
son, you would make dandy player
If you were not so d lazy" He
was great walker and at times
seemed to like to be alone. walking
the country about apparently wrap
ped In thought. Still he was. as a
rule, very social animal and a great
talker In congenial company. When
the fellows repaired to his room they
would generally find him curled M on
the bed with book In his hand. read.
ing. He Joined one OF the literary
societies, the "Eumenean."
Once a year, in February. q holiday
was given to every student on which
he was to plant tree. so. whether
Wilson did it to get the holiday or
because he wanted to do something
useful, he planted an elm on the
campus at Davidson. and 1t stands
there strong and upright today. :.
Early in the year small incident
in class fastened upon him nick.
name. The rhetoric class being en-.
gagged upon that we'll known part Of
Trench's English. Past and Present"
which sets forth (much after the man
ner of the Wanda In the opening
chapter in ''1vanhoe'') how good Saxon
beasts take Norman names when they
come to the table. the professor asked
Woodrow, "Whut is calves meat when
served at tablet" and received the
hasty reply, "Mutton!' Wilson was
Monsieur Mouton" for the rest of the
year.
Indeed, he did not finish the year, for
he fell i'll just before the examinat tons
came on and was taken to his home,
then at Wilmington. n. c., to the pas
torate of the Presbyterian church to
which city Dr. Wilson had just been
called.
I. Woodrow remained in his fathers
house at Wilmington throughout the
year 1915. 1t had been determined
that he should not return to Davidson.
but should go to Princeton. and he
spent the year tutoring In Greek and Q
few other studies. -.-~
In truth. there was good deal Of
play done that year too. The boy had
grown too fast>and was hardly fit for
the rigid schedule of college life. So
he took it easy" Wilmington was an
old and historic place: 1t was sea.
port: for the first time Woodrow saw
a ship and caught the smell OF the sea.
Talk was still full Of the adventures of
the blockade runners of the war lately
ended. Wilmington having been a ia
vorite port of the desperate men and
swift ships that then made so many
gallant chapters of sea history. What
imaginative youth from the interior
but would have haunted the docks nd
made an occasional! trip down to the
cape. to return with the pilot OF IN
outgoing ship.
For the first time here, too. the young
man began to take part in the social
! life which Is so important an element
Of existence in the south. He was rest
! ~ too young for the associations into
which he was now thrown. Dr. AZ
Mrs. Wilson Immediately achieving de.
voted popularity. the parsonage swiftly
becoming u social rendezvous Of the
city. 1t was city Of gentlemen Of
good company and women who would
have been esteemed brilliant the worlC
over.
1t was a chap very different from thu
raw youth Of Davidson who one day n
September. 1875, took the washington
and Weldon" train for the north to On
ter Princeton college. =
Ito be continued) -.